Shelby Township doctor was convicted last Thursday of all counts for conspiring to distribute more than 300,000 opioid prescription pills valued at over $6 million, following a trial in U.S. District Court in Ann Arbor, according to federal authorities.
Dr. Lawrence Mark Sherman, 74, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to illegally distribute pills such as Oxycodone, Oxymorphone and Percocet, and 19 counts of illegal distribution of Oxycodone, said U.S. Attorney U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison in a news release.
Sherman is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Juditch Levy on April 17, at which time he faces a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
Sherman was convicted for his involvement in the operation of Tranquility Wellness Center, Inc., from March 2020 through June 2021, which operated first in Dearborn and later on Greater Mack between Nine and 10 Mile roads in Saint Clair Shores, officials said. Sherman was the only prescribing doctor who primarily prescribed 30 milligrams of Oxycodone, 40 milligrams of Oxymorphone and 10 to 325 milligrams of Percocet, three of the most addictive prescription opioids and among the most highly diverted prescription opioids due to their high street value, officials said.
Sherman issued more than 300,000 dosage units of Schedule II opioid prescriptions that had a street value in excess of $6.3 million, according to trial testimony, officials said.
“My office remains committed to doing what it can to hold doctors and other health care professionals accountable when they illegally feed the opioid epidemic by writing illegal opioid prescriptions, rather than helping to address the terrible impact the opioid epidemic has had on our community,” Ison said in the release. “We will pursue drug dealers whether they are peddling drugs on the street or while wearing white coats in a medical office.”
“Today’s verdict should be a stern warning to any fraudulent medical providers who are willingto engage in illegal prescription drug and opioid distribution schemes,” said Cheyvoryea Gibson, special agent in charge of the FBI in Michigan. “By prescribing medically unnecessary medications, the defendant put vulnerable community members at risk and contributed to inflated health care costs.”
The other defendants charged in the case, including clinic operators Janeice Burrell and Angelo Smith, clinic employees Akeyla Bell and Carmen Gilbreth, and Peter Burrell previously pleaded guilty, officials said.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Dr. Sherman conspired with the other defendants to illegally authorize more than 3,000 opioid prescriptions for supposed “patients” who did not have a legitimate medical need for the drugs, and who were typically brought to the clinic by “patient recruiters/marketers,” officials said. The office accepted only cash and charged patients, not based on the service provided, but instead based on the quantity, type, and dosage of prescription opioids that the “patient” received, according to officials. The clinic also charged cash for the creation of fraudulent medical records for the supposed “patients.”
While the unlawful controlled substance prescriptions were paid for in cash, both controlled and non-controlled “maintenance” medications were billed to health-care benefit programs by pharmacies, according to officials. Billings to the Medicare and Medicaid programs for medically unnecessary prescription drug medications and maintenance medications during this conspiracy exceeded $500,000.
The case was investigated by special agents and task force officers of the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew J. Lievense and Alison Furtaw.
The federal Eastern District of Michigan is one of the 12 districts in the nation included in the Opioid Fraud Abuse and Detection Unit, a Department of Justice initiative that uses data to target and prosecute individuals that are contributing to the opioid crisis, officials noted.