ATLANTA, GA — A former county medical examiner and his alleged co-conspirators were indicted Thursday on charges of illegally distributing painkillers and other narcotics in an operation that doled out tens of thousands of pills to users. The announcement, which also included news that 44 people were arrested in connection to the case, was made by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia as part of Operation SCOPE, a multi-prong investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Operation SCOPE, or Strategically Combatting Opioids through Prosecution and Enforcement, resulted in the arrest of several people on charges related to distributing the painkillers prescribed by well-known pathologist Dr. Robert Lawson Burton, 76, of Milton.
U.S. Attorney BJay Pak said the doctor "traded away his responsibility" as a licensed practitioner and respected pathologist to write unnecessary prescriptions in exchange for sexual favors. According to his website, Burton served as the chief medical examiner in DeKalb County and senior consulting pathologist for Cobb, Gwinnett and Paulding counties before he opened his Milton-based firm in 2000.
"His associates sought to profit by having those prescriptions filled, and then selling those drugs which included opioid painkillers like oxycodone," Pak added. "The DEA and local law enforcement have halted this unlawful distribution of opioids into our community, and we are committed to prosecuting those who sought to profit."
According to prosecutors and the federal indictment, Burton operated as a consulting pathologist and was tasked with finding out the causes of disease and death (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here).
Federal agents began looking into Burton after the Georgia Drug & Narcotics Agency visited him in early 2017 and found that he was prescribing painkillers to a large number of people despite not operating a medical clinic or regularly seeing patients.
Beginning in July 2015, Burton allegedly issued 1,100 prescriptions for opioids, which the feds states amounted to more than 108,000 individual doses to include over 66,000 30mg oxycodone pills. The indictment also charges the doctor prescribed drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone "irrespective of any legitimate medical purpose and outside the normal course of professional practice in exchange for sexual favors and romantic affection," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
For example, Burton would prescribe these drugs to people without thoroughly examining them and, at times, not meeting with them. Co-defendants Jennifer Hunter, 29 of Acworth, Rhonda Haugland, 59, of Flowery Branch, and Tiffany Willis, 26, of Cartersville each engaged in a romantic relationship with Burton in exchange for prescriptions in their names as well as the names of others. As part of the conspiracy, the women would fill their prescriptions and sell the pills, and then obtain more prescriptions from Burton to give to paying customers.
Burton and the seven other individuals are charged in the federal indictment with conspiring to distribute and dispense controlled substances — outside of the normal course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose — from July 2015 to February 2018.
Burton is also charged with 10 counts of illegal drug distribution for specific prescriptions. Six of Burton's alleged conspirators were also charged in several of these counts. Burton was previously arrested on Oct. 11, 2017, on a federal criminal complaint and indicted on a smaller set of charges. Others charged in the indictment are Michelle Danner, 45, of Acworth; Cheryl Truelove, 50, of Hiram; Jerry Stephens, Jr., 29, and Rodney Kennedy, 63, both of Cartersville.
The DEA was assisted in its efforts by the Acworth, Cartersville, Jonesboro, Rome, Oakwood, Cobb County, Floyd County and Clayton County police departments and the sheriff's offices of Bartow, Barrow, Cherokee, Cobb, Fayette, Floyd, Gwinnett, Hall and Paulding counties. The Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb and Floyd County district attorney's offices, Georgia Department of Community Supervision, Georgia Composite Medical Board and the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency also aided in the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys John T. DeGenova and C. Brock Brockington are prosecuting the case.
Photo: a 2009 booking photo of Dr. Joseph Burton provided by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office
from Health - Google News http://ift.tt/2F82eGS
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