Perry County pharmacist Christopher Grant Watson pleaded guilty Wednesday to three charges related to a conspiracy to distribute and dispense hydrocodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, without an effective prescription.
In addition to the conspiracy charge, Watson pleaded guilty to charges of health care fraud and structuring. All the charges stemmed from activities between January 2010 and Jan. 27, 2015, at the Perry County Food and Drug Store that he operated with his father, Tommy Watson, for many years.
A federal case against the younger Watson was initiated after an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent went to the pharmacy Nov. 7, 2014, and handed the pharmacist an illegitimate prescription for hydrocodone, a painkiller, and Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication. The prescription contained an invalid DEA identification number and made-up names of a medical clinic and a prescribing physician.
The agent later said in an affidavit that after reviewing the prescription, Watson told the agent to "work on" the DEA number, and gave the agent instructions on how to make the prescription look valid. Watson then filled the prescription for 120 hydrocodone pills and 60 Xanax pills, for which the agent paid $130.65.
An indictment handed up against Watson in February 2015 was expanded in May 2015 to add 27 defendants, including Tommy Watson, who is charged with knowing about a crime and failing to report it.
Christopher Watson's plea agreement, accepted by U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr., requires him to surrender $850,000, which represents the amount of proceeds obtained as a result of the illegal drug trafficking and any property bought with the proceeds.
The figure includes $54,000 to be paid in restitution to the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Prosecutors said the scheme defrauded Medicare and its various prescription drug programs in that amount.
Christopher Watson's indictment said he sought payment for false prescriptions, sometimes using the name 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.
Watson will be sentenced at a later date, after a presentence report is prepared.
Metro on 10/07/2016