SPOKANE, Wash. –Dr. Duncan Lahtinen, a licensed physician, has paid $120,000.00 in penalties to resolve allegations that he wrote prescriptions for controlled substances that lacked legitimate medical purposes or were outside the usual course of his professional practice. Between 2017 and 2025, Dr. Lahtinen issued over 1,400 prescriptions for controlled...

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho--Scott Higgins, 57, of Coeur d’Alene, was sentenced yesterday on charges for theft from a program receiving federal funds and acquiring controlled substances by fraud, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced today. Both charges relate to a drug diversion scheme that Higgins carried out over multiple years while employed...

POCATELLO – Dr. Gerald Knouf, a family medicine doctor formerly of Pocatello, Idaho, agreed to pay $96,000 to resolve allegations that he wrote unlawful prescriptions, prescribed dangerous combinations of drugs, and billed Medicare and Medicaid for services that were not performed, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced today. The settlement also...

SPOKANE, Wash.– The Ferry County Hospital District agreed to pay a $15,000 Controlled Substances Act penalty and to institute corrective actions in regards to opioid prescribing practices at Republic Drug Store, a pharmacy in Republic, Washington, that Ferry County Hospital District purchased in January 2021 and has continued to operate...

BOISE – U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced criminal charges against two defendants today as part of the Department of Justice’s 2023 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action. This two-week nationwide law enforcement action resulted in criminal charges against 78 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud and opioid...

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA—Former Advanced Nurse Practitioner Jessica Joyce Spayd (52) was sentenced in U.S. District Court yesterday to 30 years (360 months) imprisonment for illegally prescribing and dispensing opioids outside the scope of legitimate medical practice that resulted in the deaths of five people between 2014 and 2019. United States District...

SEATTLE – The U.S. Attorney’s Office and Lincoln Pharmacy in Tacoma have reached a settlement agreement over inspection findings by the Drug Enforcement Administration that Lincoln had failed to comply with some of the administrative requirements of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Lincoln Pharmacy will pay the United States $80,000...

EUGENE, Ore.—A Douglas County couple known for distributing drugs was sentenced to federal prison today after they were linked to the overdose death of man to whom they had sold drugs to for more than a year. Brian Joseph Ramos, 49, and Christine Marie Ramos, 41, residents of Yoncalla, Oregon...

SEATTLE – A former dentist who practiced in Renton until his license was indefinitely suspended by the Washington State Dental Commission, was indicted federally for four counts of distributing a controlled substance, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Luke Edward St. Marie, 34, appeared in federal court today and entered pleas...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Senior U.S. District Judge Edward F. Shea has sentenced Dr. Janet Sue Arnold, age 63, of Benton City, Washington, to 48 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute opioid pain medications and other controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose...