Blake Yoder, 39, of Scott, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in connection with a multimillion fraud scheme involving prescription drugs, making him the eighth defendant to do so.
The crime involved paying and receiving kickbacks to generate 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.
Yoder joined seven others who have pleaded guilty in the case: Albert Glenn Hudson, 40, of Sherwood; Derek Clifton, 39, of Alexander; Donna Crowder, 66, of North Little Rock; Jennifer Crowder, formerly Bracy, 38, of Little Rock; Keith Benson, 50, of North Little Rock; Keith Hunter, 52, of Little Rock; and Angie Johnson, 49, of North Little Rock, according to a news release from Jonathan Ross, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Also charged were Dr. Joe David “Jay” May, 40, of Alexander, and Kenneth Myers, Jr., 42, of Alpharetta, Georgia. Their trial is set for Dec. 6.
The news release said that Hudson admitted to paying Benson, Hunter, Johnson, Myers and Yoder to recruit Tricare beneficiaries to receive the drugs. And then they paid Bracy and Clifton to have Crowder and May rubber stamp medically unnecessary prescriptions, the news release said.
They were charged in 2020.
All eight co-conspirators pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the anti-kickback statute, which is punishable by up to five years in federal prison, three years of probation and a $250,000 fine. The defendants also agreed to forfeit more than $3.2 million in illicit proceeds. Sentencing will be at a later date.
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