Gaston County general practitioner's license revoked after felony conviction for prescribing controlled substances without a legal medical purpose

2008-11-20 Earlier Cases pre-2010

By Alex Rodriguez, MHIIM, CPhT — ASHP Drug Diversion Certificate faculty

A general practitioner based in Bessemer City, in Gaston County, was prosecuted by the State of North Carolina for prescribing controlled substances without a legal medical purpose. The case ended in a felony conviction.

The North Carolina Medical Board's disciplinary report for November-December 2008 lists the conviction as the cause of the Board's action. The report does not describe the specific controlled substances, the number of prescriptions or how the prescribing came to the attention of authorities.

On November 20, 2008, the Board issued a notice of revocation of the physician's license to practice medicine. Under the Board's definitions, revocation cancels authorization to practice, and authorization may not be reissued for at least two years.

Case at a Glance

role: Physician (general practice)
setting: Medical practice, Bessemer City, Gaston County
drug: Controlled substances (not specified)
outcome: Felony conviction in state court; North Carolina Medical Board issued notice of revocation

Primary source: https://www.ncmedboard.org/images/uploads/disciplinary_reports/ba70.pdf

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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 healthcare compliance analytics professional with more than a decade in pharmacy practice and direct responsibility for a health-system controlled substance diversion prevention program.

IHFDA Annual 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

MHIIM — Master of Health Informatics and Information Management, 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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