Florida Doctor, Granddaughter Sentenced

What Happened

Janet Pettyjohn, 78, an osteopathic physician in Spring Hill, Florida, was sentenced in August 2024 to three years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute drugs. Her granddaughter, Shelly Gallagher, 34, who held no medical license, received six years. Prosecutors said Florida's Board of Osteopathic Medicine restricted Pettyjohn from prescribing opioids in July 2020, and she continued to prescribe them in violation of that order. Between March 2021 and February 2023, she prescribed controlled substances to Gallagher and others for no legitimate medical purpose. The court ordered forfeiture of $34,132, and Pettyjohn relinquished her medical license and DEA registration in May 2024.

“Pettyjohn continued to prescribe opioids in violation of the Final Order.”
U.S. Department of Justice / U.S. Attorney's Office press release, Aug 1, 2024

Related Guidance

15 Red Flags of Drug Diversion — Behavioral and transactional indicators of diversion.
Investigation Playbook — How to investigate suspected diversion inside an organization.

Sources

U.S. Department of Justice / U.S. Attorney's Office press release, Aug 1, 2024

Case at a Glance

Setting: Physician clinic
Drug: Opioids and other controlled substances
Method: Prescribing for no legitimate medical purpose, including in violation of a board order
Status: Sentenced August 2024: Pettyjohn to three years and Gallagher to six years in federal prison; $34,132 forfeiture

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

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Where this record connects to the site's working material. Links are chosen from the case's setting, drug and method fields.

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Last reviewed: September 2026 · Educational content, not legal advice.

About the author

DivertGuard is built and maintained by Alex Rodriguez, MHIIM, CPhT (also known as Jesus Rodriguez) — a drug diversion prevention program manager with more than a decade in pharmacy practice, including direct responsibility for a health-system controlled substance diversion prevention program.

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2025 — The Rounding Revolution: A High-Tech Approach to Diversion Prevention (with Emily Spiceland, PharmD)
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Doctorate candidate — Doctor of Health Informatics (DHI), Rutgers University, School of Health Professions; research on health data analytics and the prediction of cognitive decline
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CPhT — Certified Pharmacy Technician, with 10+ years of pharmacy practice across retail, hospice, compounding, home-health, and hospital settings

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Penalty Outcomes in the Case Records

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Registry Insights: Sentences, Fines, States and Outcomes

Sentence lengths, fines and restitution, cases per 100,000 pharmacists by state, and plea and licence outcomes, each counted from the case records with its n, plus charts of cases by year, state and drug class

Florida Doctor, Granddaughter Sentenced for Opioids