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Dr. Richard Johns Indicted in Conspiracy to Distribute Oxycodone

3 min read

Dr. Richard Johns, the Little Rock physician who was charged with 187 counts of prescription drug fraud in Lonoke County in May, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday as part of a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. 

U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer’s office announced that 18 others had also been indicted Wednesday, but the names of the codefendants were not immediately released, nor were the details of the charges against Johns.

(Update: The names of the codefendants became available on Sept. 3. We’ve added them to the end of this story.)

The conspiracy operated in Lonoke, White, and Pulaski counties.

Chuck Graham, the Lonoke County prosecuting attorney, said he would dismiss his charges against Johns to allow the federal prosecutors to pursue their case.

Johns’ license to practice medicine was suspended after the Lonoke County charges were filed.

“This is no surprise,” Little Rock attorney Bud Cummins, who is defending Johns along with Paul James, told Arkansas Business. “We expected a federal indictment.”

The federal indictments come out of the federal “pill mill” investigation known as “Operation Pilluted.”

Johns, according to Thyer’s news release, “was part of a distribution network … in which he would write oxycodone prescriptions in individuals’ names, selling them for $500 each … Johns woud issue the prescription without examining the individual, and in many cases, without ever having met the individual.”

The pills were then sold in the community for about $30 each, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

“As alleged in the indictment, the doctor writing these fraudulent prescriptions is no different than a common, street-level drug dealer on the street, and should be treated as such,” Thyer said. “As a society we have granted certain health care professionals the right to prescribe and use highly addictive drugs to treat their patients. When that right is abused, we will aggressively pursue those health care professionals as the criminals that they are. I am pleased that this doctor and his network have been stopped, and this office will continue to target the doctors, pharmacists, and other health-care providers who illegally allow these dangerous and highly addictive drugs to end up on our streets.”

Arkansas Business has reported that an indictment of Johns was close at hand.

The investigation into Johns’ prescribing habits began in November after the death of a 25-year-old Cabot man. Investigators traced the death back to one of the fraudulent prescriptions allegedly written by Johns.

In 2012, Arkansas Business wrote that Johns was under investigation by Little Rock Police in connection to sexual misconduct allegations by at least two women. There was an element of fraudulent prescriptions to those accusations. No charges resulted from that investigation.

Other Defendants

  • Richard Duane Johns, 49, Little Rock
  • David L. Scroggins, 56, Cabot
  • Marissa Donann Scroggins, 29, Cabot
  • Christopher David Scroggins, 36, Cabot
  • Donna Michelle Cearns, 28 Cabot
  • Vanessa E. Byrd, 29, Ward
  • Randy James Byrd, 28, Ward
  • James Jason Washam, 38, Scott
  • Jerri D. Washam, 33, Scott
  • Christine Marie Zeman, 46, Lonoke
  • Megan Brooke McConnell, 25, Judsonia
  • Gregory Chase McConnell, 24, Judsonia
  • Aron Scot Cochran, 26, Searcy
  • Scotty Wayne Ferren Jr., 25, Searcy
  • Jason Ray Beaudry, 29, Searcy
  • Dustin R. Bullock, 27, Searcy
  • Charles Lester Mason, 69, Searcy
  • Joshua David Ringer, 29, Searcy
  • James Vernon Spiker Jr., 28, Judsonia
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