A second Arkansas physician pleaded guilty on Tuesday in a federal "pill mill" case that is to go before a jury beginning June 27.
Dr. Shawn Michael Brooks, 45, of Little Rock pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misprision of a felony, admitting he knew about and concealed from authorities the illegal distribution of controlled substances at the KJ Medical Clinic, where he worked from December 2014 through March 12, 2015.
Brooks admitted to U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. that while working at the clinic that occupied a suite at 11215 Hermitage Road, he wrote illegitimate prescriptions for 156,630 10mg hydrocodone pills and 125,546 2mg Xanax tablets.
Before negotiating a guilty plea to the misprision charge, which is punishable by up to three years in prison and a possible fine of up to $250,000, Brooks faced three charges -- conspiracy to distribute the Schedule II and Schedule III controlled substances without an effective prescription, and two counts of distribution of hydrocodone without an effective prescription -- for which he faced up to 20 years behind bars as well as the potential fine.
His plea deal prohibits him from reapplying for a Drug Enforcement Administration registration number that would authorize him to write prescriptions, as well as applying for a medical license in any state.
He remains free on bond pending sentencing at a later date.
On April 20, Dr. Jerry Scott Reifeiss, 61, of Conway, who started working as a physician at the clinic in March 2015, about the time Brooks left, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to distribute hydrocodone and other controlled substances. He admitted prescribing 110,044 10mg hydrocodone pills without a prescription from March 11, 2015, the day he started, until May 20, 2015 -- the day federal agents raided the clinic.
Brooks and Reifeiss were among about 20 people, including one other doctor and three other health care professionals, indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with the prescriptions written at the clinic -- and almost always filled at the nearby Bowman Curve Pharmacy -- as part of a regional DEA investigation into prescription drug abuse. Authorities say the clinic and the pharmacy worked together to distribute hundreds of illegal prescriptions for hydrocodone and Xanax pills.
The other doctor named in the indictment is Felicie Wyatt of Memphis, who is charged with conspiracy and is accused of being the "collaborative" physician at Artex Clinic, the predecessor of KJ Medical Clinic in the same location, from June 2014 through September 2014.
The indictment is one of several included under the "Operation Pilluted" umbrella of prescription drug abuse cases in the Eastern District of Arkansas. Other defendants include Anthony Markeith King, owner of the pain management clinic; Christopher Dion Manson, the clinic manager; Aaron Paul Borengasser, a physician's assistant; Kristin L. Raines, an advanced practical nurse; Stella Green, a nurse practitioner; various clinic staff members; and several people accused of posing as patients in pain or recruiting people to pose as patients to get prescriptions.
Kristen Holland, who was the pharmacist in charge at Bowman Curve Pharmacy, pleaded guilty Feb. 10 to a misprision charge, admitting she knew about illegal prescriptions being filled there but didn't report it.
According to court documents, two owners of the Artex clinic, who aren't charged, also owned and operated a number of similar clinics in the Dallas area, where Borengasser was sent for training.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Gardner told the judge that patients would arrive at the KJ Medical Clinic by 7 a.m., often "several to a vehicle." She said each patient was checked for weapons before entering, and each paid $150 to $200 for a cursory physical examination. She said many of the patients lived outside central Arkansas and they generally ranged in age from 25 to 35. Gardner said clinic staff members told the patients they needed to report a high pain level if they wanted to receive a prescription for pain medication.
Gardner said the patients didn't receive any diagnostic tests, and the clinic lacked working equipment that is usually seen in a medical clinic.
She said the arrests stemmed from a visit by an undercover officer posing as a patient who had no physical injury and who didn't indicate any pain during a brief doctor exam. She said a nurse then gave the officer a prescription for 90 10mg hydrocodone pills.
Both Brooks and Reifeiss believed the clinic to be a legitimate practice when they began working there but gradually came to recognize it as pill mill, Gardner said.
Metro on 05/12/2016