COEUR D’ALENE – Dr. Eric Benson, an internist practicing medicine in Post Falls, Idaho, agreed to pay $110,000 to resolve allegations that he unlawfully prescribed opioids and other controlled substances to patients between 2014-2021. The settlement, which was based in part on Dr. Benson’s ability to pay, also restricts the...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Physician Edmund Kemprud, 78, of Dublin, was convicted today of 14 counts of illegally prescribing opioids and other controlled substances patients, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. According to evidence presented at trial, Kemprud was a physician licensed to practice medicine in California and worked in...

Baltimore, Md., – U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman has approved a consent decree that permanently enjoins Elizabeth J. Allen, a Baltimore-based physician assistant, from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, resolving the United States’ civil allegations that Allen violated the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in illegally prescribing opioids. Under...

Greenbelt, Md., – Edwin Kerry Smith, age 43, of Silver Spring, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and admitted that heroin he distributed to one victim resulted in the victim’s fatal overdose. The guilty plea was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent in...

DALLAS - A longtime drug dealer has been convicted of drug and gun crimes, announced DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez. Following a two-day trial, a federal jury convicted Jerome Thomas Watkins, 44, of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin; possession with...

SPOKANE, Washington – Christopher M. Valley, N.D., a Spokane-based naturopathic doctor, has agreed to pay $47,700 to resolve allegations under the Controlled Substances Act that he improperly prescribed controlled substances between December 2015 and December 2020. The Controlled Substances Act regulates certain drugs deemed to pose a risk of abuse...

MIAMI – A Florida man pleaded guilty yesterday to unlawfully distributing opioids at his pain management clinic in Miami, Florida. According to court documents, Habib Geagea Palacios, 40, of Miami, owned a cash-only pain management clinic in Miami, Florida named General Care Center, Inc. At General Care Center, Palacios paid...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A York County man was sentenced today to 17 years in prison for distributing heroin to two women who died from overdoses at his Seaford home and for possessing firearms and ammunition as an unlawful drug user who maintained a drug-involved premises. According to court documents...

NEWARK, N.J. – Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division Susan A. Gibson and Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Rachael A. Honig announced a Monmouth County, New Jersey, doctor was charged today for his participation in a scheme to receive bribes...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal jury convicted an Alexandria man yesterday on charges of conspiracy, possession, and distribution of fentanyl and Eutylone, and being a felon in possession of a firearm during drug trafficking. According to court records and evidence presented at trial, from in or around June 2020, through...