United States Drug Enforcement Administration

WASHINGTON – A federal court ordered an Elkin, North Carolina, pharmacy to pay a $500,000 penalty and enjoined the pharmacy and its pharmacists from dispensing controlled substances, including opioids, without taking steps to help ensure the drugs will not be abused or diverted. The consent decree resolves a complaint filed...

SAVANNAH, GA: A physician who operates weight-loss clinics in the Savannah area has agreed to pay civil penalties and to accept increased oversight to resolve allegations that he violated the Controlled Substances Act. Dr. Donald Lyle Gates, who operates three Savannah-area Scale Solutions clinics, reached a settlement with the Southern...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A North Carolina physician appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan C. Rodriguez this morning on charges related to the alleged unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. A criminal indictment charging Henry Ronald Emery, Jr...

NEW BERN, N.C. – A three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous, published opinion affirming former physician Jong Whan Kim’s conviction and sentence for operating a pill mill in Tabor City. The Fourth Circuit’s decision was the first published opinion by the Court upholding a...

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Dr. Mark S.T. Armitage, a physician practicing with Pelican Family Medicine in Wilmington, North Carolina, agreed to pay $170,000 to resolve alleged violations of the Controlled Substances Act. Dr. Armitage, who previously surrendered his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration to prescribe controlled substances, further agreed not to...

RALEIGH, N.C. – A former Fuquay-Varina nurse was sentenced today to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release for tampering with painkillers intended for surgery patients. On March 9, 2022, Melissa Elizabeth Chacona pled guilty to the charges. “Surgical patients trust healthcare providers to give them the...

ASHEVILLE, NC – U.S. Attorney Dena J. King announced today that Benjamin Dann Owens, 36, of Hayesville, N.C., was sentenced to 312 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, Oxycodone, and other narcotics as...

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — Prisma Health Midlands (“Prisma”) has agreed to pay a record $1 million to resolve allegations that it committed recordkeeping and dispensing violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). These requirements are designed to prevent the diversion of controlled substances. This civil settlement includes a memorandum of...

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- The leader of a conspiracy that used forged prescriptions to obtain and sell large amounts of highly addictive opioids has been sentenced to federal prison. Raheem Hardy, 29, of Decatur, Georgia, was sentenced to 55 months in prison after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent...

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- A former Garden City, Ga., clinic owner and CEO has admitted to laundering money in connection with a notorious “pill mill” doctor who illegally dispensed massive amounts of controlled substances. Jamesetta Whipple-Duncan, 58, of Savannah, pled guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of money laundering...