A Little Rock federal jury found an Alexander doctor guilty for his role in a multi-million dollar kickback conspiracy involving prescription drugs.
Joe David “Jay” May, 41, was found guilty Thursday on all 22 counts that he was indicted on, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The crimes involved paying and receiving kickbacks for writing prescriptions for compounded drugs, which are medications mixed specifically for an individual patient. Tricare, the military’s health insurer, paid more than $12 million for the prescriptions.
“Dr. May used his signature as a rubber stamp to help his friends rake in millions of dollars in kickbacks from fraudulent prescriptions,” Jonathan D. Ross, United States attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, said in a news release.
May was indicted in January 2020. The indictment said that May approved illegitimate prescriptions for pain cream in order to receive a payout from Tricare.
A pharmacy promoter paid recruiters to find beneficiaries, regardless of whether they needed the drugs, and then paid others to get medical providers, including May, to rubber stamp prescriptions for Tricare beneficiaries, the news release said.
May’s primary specialty is family medicine, and he practices at several hospitals across the state.
“Evidence at trial indicated that May wrote 226 prescriptions over the course of ten months, for which Tricare paid $4.63 million,” the news release said. “May accepted cash bribes totaling nearly $15,000 and signed off on the prescriptions without consulting patients and without determining whether or not the prescription was needed.”
May’s convictions for wire fraud, mail fraud, and falsifying records can result in up to 20 years in federal prison on each count. His convictions for violation of the anti-kickback statute can result in up to 10 years in prison, and he faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy and making false statements.
May will also serve an added four years on top of his sentence for convictions on two counts of aggravated identity theft. He also faces fines of up to $250,000 and up to three years of probation for all offenses.
May’s attorney, Shelly Hogan Koehler of the law firm Snively Fairrell & Koehler of Fayetteville, said Tuesday that she is planning an appeal after May is sentenced.
“Obviously, we are disappointed with the jury verdict, but respect the jury process and everything that it stands for,” she said.
Before May went to trial, nine defendants pleaded guilty to their roles in the Tricare scheme. They are: Kenneth Myers Jr., of Alpharetta, Georgia, formerly of Little Rock; Albert Glenn Hudson of Sherwood; Derek Clifton of Alexander; Donna Crowder of North Little Rock; Jennifer Crowder, formerly Bracy, of Little Rock; Keith Benson of North Little Rock; Keith Hunter of Little Rock; Angie Johnson of North Little Rock; and Blake Yoder of Scott, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Koehler said that Clifton never told May that he was signing prescriptions for many different “recruiters. … Dr. May had no idea that that was what he was doing. He thought he was helping a friend out.”
She said that May thought Clifton knew and had some involvement with the people May was signing prescriptions for non-narcotic pain medication. “Dr. May had no idea that … these pharmacies were billing Tricare for tens of thousands of dollars.”
Koehler also said that federal prosecutors lumped May in with the other defendants. “Unfortunately, the jury did not get to see that Dr. May was not the same as everybody else.”
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