What Happened
A former physician in Rawlins, Wyoming was charged in a 32-count federal indictment with dispensing oxycodone, alprazolam, tramadol, promethazine with codeine, amphetamine/dextroamphetamine and hydrocodone from 2014 to 2017 without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice, including to people and pregnant women under 21.
He was scheduled to plead guilty in federal court in Cheyenne in late February 2020 The Wyoming Board of Medicine suspended his licence in 2017 after finding he inappropriately prescribed controlled substances for other than legitimate purposes, prescribed them to known abusers, and offered drugs in exchange for sex, and he voluntarily relinquished his licence in August 2018.
What the Record Shows
Federal criminal charges (32 counts) with a guilty plea scheduled; 2017 licence suspension; voluntary relinquishment of licence accepted August 2018.
Why It Matters for Diversion Programs
This entry comes from a news source rather than a federal enforcement release, and it is recorded as reported: Charged in a 32-count federal indictment with dispensing controlled substances from 2014 to 2017 often without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice, including to persons under 21 and to pregnant women under 21; the state medical board found in 2017 that the physician was inappropriately prescribing controlled substances for other than legitimate purposes, prescribing to known abusers, and offering drugs in exchange for sex.. Board and news records are a lagging indicator - by the time a licensing authority or a reporter learns of a diversion, the diversion was normally detected internally first, which makes each entry a signal that inventory reconciliation, waste observation or dispensing oversight failed earlier.