On May 2, 2022, a Dearborn physician pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Michigan to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. As part of the plea the physician agreed to forfeit approximately $37,000 in cash that had been seized from the medical office.
According to court records described in the announcement, the physician admitted to prescribing 12,500 dosage units of hydrocodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, without regard to medical necessity. The prescriptions were issued outside the course of professional medical practice and without any legitimate medical need for the drugs.
The case was investigated by the FBI's Detroit Division and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and prosecuted as part of the district's participation in the Attorney General's Opioid Fraud Abuse and Detection initiative. The release does not describe the specific events that first brought the prescribing to investigators' attention.
Sentencing was scheduled for August 22, 2022. The release does not report the sentence imposed.