A two-count hydrocodone-distribution indictment handed up in February against Perry County pharmacist Christopher Grant Watson was expanded Friday to add 27 defendants, including Watson's father, Tommy.
The Watsons co-own the Perry County Food and Drugstore in Perryville, where the younger Watson is accused of knowingly filling a phony prescription for the Schedule II narcotic Nov. 7 for an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
Christopher Watson was initially indicted on just that charge and a second charge of possessing a .357-caliber handgun Jan. 27 despite using and being addicted to a controlled substance.
The superseding indictment filed Friday consists of 44 charges altogether, including 10 counts of health care fraud against Christopher Watson, a hydrocodone-distribution conspiracy charge against Watson and eight other people, and a charge of conspiring to obtain controlled substances by fraud against Watson and 20 other people, as well as two distribution charges against Watson.
The only charge against Tommy Watson is misprision of a felony, which accuses him of knowing about a conspiracy to distribute controlled substances without a prescription but concealing it and failing to report it to authorities.
Charged alongside Christopher Watson in the conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute hydrocodone are Bartley Wayne McMillen, Eric Flynn Horton, James Kenars Crenshaw Sr., James Kenars Crenshaw Jr., Lorrie Jean Kirk, Jonathan Arnell Jones, Jesse Lee McGraw and Joe Shering Jackson.
Charged alongside the younger Watson in the second conspiracy charge are McMillen and Crenshaw Sr., as well as Roy Lamont Willard; Jessica Tucker Monk; Jeremy Ray Johnson; Andrea Dawn Reynolds; Lloyce Jermane Love; Brenda Kay Esben; Gary Wayne Strickland; Dorothy Jo Flowers; Beau D. Armstrong; Brenda Giles Jackson, also known as Brenda Bates; Tammy Kay Sharp; Sherman Ray Tiner Jr.; Mason DeWayne Tiner; Jessica Marie Whiddon; Stacie R. Dukes; Angelia Gayle Ferguson; Daphne Lynette Garner; and Doris Jean Johnson.
Also, two charges of possessing hydrocodone with intent to distribute were filed against Crenshaw Jr.; charges of possessing hydrocodone with intent to distribute, being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking was filed against Joe Shering Jackson; one count each of possessing with intent to distribute both hydrocodone and oxycodone, another Schedule II controlled substance, were filed against Horton and McMillen; and single counts of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation were filed against Crenshaw Sr., Willard, Monk, Jeremy Johnson, Esben, Strickland, Flowers, Armstrong, Brenda Jackson, Mason Tiner, Sharp, Whiddon, Dukes, Ferguson, Doris Johnson, Reynolds, Love and Garner.
Horton was additionally charged with possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, while Sharp was also charged with possessing and concealing counterfeit $20 bills and passing unspecified denominations of counterfeit bills.
The health care fraud charges against the younger Watson concern Medicare Part D, which provides subsidized prescription drug insurance coverage to qualifying beneficiaries of Medicare, a federal health care program for primarily the elderly and disabled.
The indictment alleges that from September 2013 through October, Christopher Watson executed a scheme to defraud Medicare and its various prescription-drug programs for the purpose of enriching himself. It said he carried out the scheme by seeking payment for false prescriptions, sometimes using the names of a doctor who had retired, and other times using the name of a rheumatologist who had stopped issuing prescriptions for a certain person after Jan. 1, 2013.
The government indicated in the indictment that it will seek $850,000 in drug-trafficking proceeds, and all property derived from the proceeds, from the younger Watson, as well as all guns and ammunition he is accused of using to carry out the crimes. It lists 105 specific guns ranging from handguns to machine guns.
Other property the government will seek to have forfeited to it in the event of convictions include guns owned by Horton and Joe Shering Jackson.
In February, U.S. Magistrate Judge H. David Young allowed the younger Watson to begin inpatient treatment for substance abuse for 30 days, to be followed by his participation in a chemical-free living program and then home detention with electronic monitoring at his own expense, pending trial.
In March, federal prosecutors asked to revoke the younger Watson's bond, saying that his father wasn't a suitable third-party custodian because he had made verbal threats. The judge refused to revoke the bond, however, saying the elder Watson didn't present "a serious risk of harm to government agents or to the public."
Metro on 05/09/2015