Fultondale Doctor Charged With Additional Counts of Prescribing Controlled Substances

BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury yesterday issued a 135-count second superseding indictment charging a Fultondale doctor with 31 additional counts of dispensing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay Morris, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr.  The doctor was previously charged in November 2018 with conspiracy to prescribe controlled substances and participating in a healthcare fraud conspiracy with a Demopolis pharmacist and a Tuscaloosa sales representative.

The prior indictment charged PAUL ROBERTS, M.D., 46, of Fultondale, AL, with multiple counts of conspiring and dispensing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose.  The drugs Roberts prescribed include Adderall, a drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, Suboxone, a drug used to treat opioid addiction, and oxycodone, an opioid.  The indictment also charged Roberts with prescribing oxycodone to an individual in exchange for sexual favors.  The second superseding indictment charges Roberts with prescribing oxycodone, hydrocodone, and other controlled substances to another individual.  According to the indictment, Roberts directed that individual to complain of fabricated physical ailments in order to obtain controlled substances, and solicited explicit photographs from the individual.  The indictment also charges Roberts with prescribing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose to the individual and various other individuals.

As in the prior indictment, Roberts is also charged with participating in a healthcare fraud conspiracy and scheme that involved delegating responsibility for seeing patients with opioid addictions to staff such as his X-ray technician and office manager, but billing Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama as though he personally saw the patients.  The indictment also charges Roberts, along with STANLEY F. REEVES, 60, of Demopolis, AL, a pharmacist and owner of F&F Drugs, and BRETT TAFT, 45, of Tuscaloosa, AL, with defrauding third-party administrators of health insurance plans of over $10.5 million in fraudulently billed compounded drugs.  Reeves is also charged with making false statements to federal agents and with tampering with a witness, and both Reeves and Taft are charged with spending the proceeds of health care fraud.

 “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively pursue doctors who demonstrate such blatant disregard for their patients’ well-being, and to prosecuting individuals who defraud the healthcare insurance plans that exist to help the citizens of this district pay for healthcare,” Town said.  “Dope dealers sometimes wear a white coat.”

“DEA is fully committed to the pursuit of any individual who abandons their oath as a medical professional,” Morris said.  “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners, the medical community and the public to identify and stop those responsible for endangering lives in our communities and bring them to justice.”

The maximum penalty for the dispensing controlled substances charges is 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. The maximum penalty for health care fraud and conspiracy charges is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The maximum penalty for the false statement charge is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The maximum penalty for the witness tampering charge is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  The maximum penalty for the spending proceeds of healthcare fraud charge is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

DEA and FBI investigated the cases, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys Austin Shutt and Chinelo Dike-Minor are prosecuting.

An indictment contains only charges. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.