Michigan Doctors, Clinic Owner Charged

What Happened

An indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of Michigan in September 2024 charged nine people, including three doctors and a clinic owner, with conspiracy to illegally distribute prescription drugs. The indictment alleges that from June 2021 through September 2024, Sharlene Dawson, owner of P&A Aftercare in Southfield, hired Drs. Charles Wasson, Maurice Potts and Bruce Kaplan to issue controlled substance prescriptions for fake patients in exchange for cash, without medical necessity. The drugs included oxycodone, Percocet and Norco. Recruiters allegedly filled the prescriptions and sold the drugs on the street. Billings to Medicare and Medicaid allegedly exceeded $20 million. An indictment is only a charge.

“An indictment was unsealed today charging nine individuals with conspiracy to illegally distribute prescription drugs”
U.S. Department of Justice / U.S. Attorney's Office press release, Sep 20, 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, Sep 20, 2024

Case at a Glance

Setting: Clinic / physician practice
Drug: Oxycodone, oxycodone-acetaminophen (Percocet), hydrocodone-acetaminophen (Norco)
Method: Prescriptions issued to fake patients for cash without medical necessity
Status: Indictment unsealed September 2024 (charge only)

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

What this case shows

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.

Conference presentations

2025 — The Rounding Revolution: A High-Tech Approach to Diversion Prevention (with Emily Spiceland, PharmD)
2024 — No Pill Left Behind: Strategies for Comprehensive Drug Accountability (with Eric Andrews)
2022 — Ready for My Close Up! Implementing, Maintaining, and Expanding Drug Diversion Prevention Cameras (with Jeremy Quinn, Shawn Young, and John Bailey)

Other professional engagement

Faculty, ASHP Drug Diversion Certificate
Speaker, Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA)
Published author, Pharmacy Purchasing & Products

Credentials

Doctorate candidate — Doctor of Health Informatics (DHI), Rutgers University, School of Health Professions; research on health data analytics and the prediction of cognitive decline
MHIIM — master's in health informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center (2019–2021)
CPhT — Certified Pharmacy Technician, with 10+ years of pharmacy practice across retail, hospice, compounding, home-health, and hospital settings

The assessment items, weighting, and case registry behind this site come from that operational background — building and running a diversion prevention program, not from vendor marketing. Every tool here is free, requires no signup, and is based on published regulatory and professional standards (DEA, Joint Commission, ASHP, CDC).

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Registry Insights: Sentences, Fines, States and Outcomes

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