Dr. Richard Johns of Practice Management Services Inc. of Little Rock.
A quick update on a case we’ve been following in Arkansas Business:
Richard Johns, the former Little Rock doctor who pleaded guilty in March to his part in a conspiracy to distribute fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone, is scheduled to be sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Brian S. Miller on Aug. 30.
Johns, you may recall, admitted that he sold, typically for $500 each, enough fraudulent prescriptions in the names of patients he might never have met to procure at least 39,000 oxycodone pills.
The conspiracy, uncovered after the overdose death of Curtis Norris, 25, of Cabot, in November 2014, resulted in more than 70 arrests and more than 50 convictions in state and federal courts.
(See One Bad Doctor: Richard Johns Pill Mill Scheme Leads to Death of One, Ensnares Dozens.)
Co-defendants in Johns’ federal case have drawn sentences ranging from probation to 65 months in federal prison. Johns’ plea deal suggested a likely sentence of nine to 12 years.
Johns was taken into custody immediately after his guilty plea.
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