MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—MD070311L LICENSE STATUS/DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—Died 12/18/2016; see article below
Montco pediatrician admits to collecting child porn on iPhone
A nurse discovered her employer’s child porn stash after he bought her an iPhone.
The pediatrician who owned a children’s medical practice in Montgomery County was discovered to have amassed a collection of child pornography.
Dr. David S. Kennedy, 48, of Pennsburg, admitted to possessing the images after a nurse found them on an iPhone he had bought for her and reported him to authorities, the Montgomery County DA’s office announced Wednesday.
Kennedy’s collection came to light over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Prosecutors said he bought an iPhone7 Plus for a nurse at Personal Care Pediatrics in Pennsburg, which he owned, after she volunteered to handle after-hours calls over Thanksgiving week.
He bought the phone Nov. 22 and gave it to the nurse on Nov. 23, but didn’t realize when he synced it to his account that it would connect to his massive cache of pornography, including child porn, prosecutors said.
“Dr. David Kennedy believed it was only the address book shared. He was unaware his photo stream, contained in the iCloud, was also connected to the new iPhone7 Plus,” the criminal complaint states.
Over the holidays, the nurse used the phone while she was in possession of it to answer calls from patients, look up medical information for patients, and take pictures of her Thanksgiving gathering.
But when she went into the “Photo Album” folder on the phone, “she found what she estimated to be hundreds of digital images of naked women,” according to the criminal complaint. The nurse “thought that some of the images might depict females under the age of 18.”
Later, while using to phone to review a medical chart for children’s medication, she found a label in the web browser called “David’s iCloud,” with suggested sites that had graphic titles referring to child pornography.
On Nov. 28, the nurse contacted authorities. Dr. Kennedy later admitted to authorities that he had downloaded images of child porn. Police also searched two iPhone 5s he had in his possession, which contained more child porn and websites with child pornography in the web browser histories.
Kennedy was arrested that day and charged with sexual abuse of children and criminal use of a communications facility. He is being held in Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to make bail, prosecutors said. (LINK) — 11/30/2016
MONTGOMERY CO. PEDIATRICIAN FOUND DEAD IN PRISON AFTER CHILD PORN ARREST
PENNSBURG, Pa. (WPVI) –Dr. David Kennedy, who was arrested late last month on charges of possessing sexual explicit images of children, was found dead in Montgomery County Prison on Sunday.
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office says they are investigating the death, as they do all deaths that occur in prison, but cannot comment any further on the ongoing investigation.
The Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy Monday morning. Results have not yet been released.
48-year-old David Kennedy of Pennsburg was charged on November 30th with five counts of Sexual Abuse of Children and Criminal Use of a Communications Facility.
Detectives were contacted by a nurse practitioner at Personal Care Pediatrics regarding sexually explicit images of children on a cell phone belonging to the medical practice.
Authorities say the nurse practitioner had been given a new iPhone by the office in order to handle after-hours phone calls for the pediatrician’s office over the Thanksgiving holiday.
In the course of using the phone, she discovered sexually graphic photos of children and other sexual images.
The investigation revealed that the images belonged to Kennedy, authorities say.
After he was arrested, Kennedy failed to make bail, which was set at $250,000, and was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. (LINK) — 12/19/2016
OGDEN, Utah — A man who worked as a child psychiatrist and osteopathic physician for Intermountain Healthcare was arrested last week after he was allegedly caught with child pornography on his work computer.
David Ford Wilson, 41, faces 15 second-degree felony charges of sexual exploitation of a minor. Wilson was arrested Friday after an investigation was conducted by an Internet Crimes Against Children detective from the Weber County Sheriff’s Office.
The investigation was launched after information systems security workers for Intermountain Healthcare discovered one of the company’s computers was being used to access suspected child pornography, according to a press release from the Weber County Sheriff’s Office.
The company immediately reported the incident to law enforcement officials and terminated Wilson.
“The investigators that looked at the pictures didn’t feel like it appeared that any of them were of patients, or taken in the setting that he would have had access to the patients in,” said Lt. Mike Lowther, Weber County Sheriff’s Office. “So at this point, we are reasonable confident that it’s limited to the online.”
The incident was also reported to the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing. The DOPL held an Emergency Administrative Proceeding on August 27 and issued an Emergency Order to suspend Wilson’s physician licenses. According to the report, Wilson’s computer hard drive shows numerous searches for pornographic material using terms, such as “little girl models” and “young Russian girls.”
Since January 2013, the report said Wilson had viewed images of what appeared to be preteen girls and young girls, and the computer contained several hundred images of girls between ages 8-12.
During a meeting with the hospital’s human resources department in April, the report said Wilson admitted he had been viewing child pornography for years.
The hospital fired Wilson on April 30, but prior to his license suspension in August, the report indicates that he continued practicing medicine at patients’ homes, where young children may have been present.
“David Wilson was treating vulnerable children all while viewing child pornography on his work computer. The Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing felt his actions posed an immediate threat to public safety so swift action was necessary,” Utah Department of Commerce executive director Francine Giani said in a press release.
Wilson was booked into the Weber County Jail. His bail amount was set at $150,000. (LINK) — 9/09/2013
Child pornography charges dismissed against former McKay-Dee Hospital doctor
OGDEN — A judge has ruled there’s insufficient evidence to prove a former doctor downloaded child pornography on his work computer.
On Nov. 10, Judge Scott M. Hadley dismissed all 15 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor filed against David Ford Wilson, 45. Wilson was employed at McKay-Dee Hospital before his arrest three years ago.
Upon dismissing the charges, Hadley said prosecutors did not produce “believable evidence.”
Charging documents filed in the case said Intermountain Healthcare security personnel believed the former doctor’s computer was used to download and view child porn. Wilson, who was an osteopathic physician and child psychiatrist, was then terminated from his job, and the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing revoked his licenses to practice medicine and prescribe drugs.
He was arrested Sept. 6, 2013, after an investigation involving the Utah Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI.
The judge’s decision to dismiss the charges came after Wilson’s attorneys, Tara Isaacson and Walter Bugden, filed motions claiming the investigation couldn’t prove Wilson viewed child pornography on the computer.
At an evidentiary hearing that began June 3 and continued Sept. 2, computer experts’ testimony explained how accusations against Wilson arose and why he couldn’t be directly linked to the child pornography in question.
Carl Horne, Intermountain Healthcare’s internet architect, told the court part of this job is checking the company’s computer logs — including “proxy logs” — each night to see what employees viewed on their devices. In early 2013, he said the security system flagged a child porn site and showed a user named “dfwilson” accessed it.
Tami Loehrs, a computer forensic expert from Arizona, testified on behalf of the defense during the hearing. She said a proxy server showing someone went to a website doesn’t necessarily mean he or she actually visited the site. She said a more reliable way to know if a person viewed certain images is if he or she searched for them, downloaded them, or saved them in a file and viewed them again.
Loehrs testified images found on Wilson’s computer weren’t saved and said it’s possible for a person to have an image stored on a computer without ever seeing it. (LINK) — 11/29/2016
MEDICAL BOARD ACTIONS
*WILSON, David Ford, DO
License Nos. 8006131-1204/8904
Docket No. 2013-363
Morgan, Utah Cause of Action: Respondent has engaged in behavior that represents an immediate and significant
danger to the public health, safety and welfare.
Emergency Order: Respondent’s licenses to practice as an osteopathic physician/surgeon and to
administer and prescribe controlled substances were immediately suspended
effective the date of the Emergency Order and until an additional Order is issued by
the Division.
Doctor accused of stealing court documents in custody fight
A prominent Manhattan neurosurgeon whose patients include former Govs. George Pataki and David Paterson and actress Suzanne Somers was arrested Thursday for allegedly trying to steal confidential custody-case documents from a courtroom.
Dr. Eric Braverman and the in-house lawyer for his Park Avenue clinic, Diana Moyhi, were cuffed outside Matrimonial Judge Deborah Kaplan’s courtroom at Manhattan Civil Court on Centre Street at around 10 a.m., law-enforcement sources told The Post.
They were hauled to the Fifth Precinct station house and charged with tampering with public records and criminal contempt for disobeying a judge’s orders not to remove the paperwork, related to a nasty custody battle with his wife.
“This is desperate act by a desperate man,” said Bettina Hindin, the attorney representing Braverman’s third wife, Darya.
“It’s shocking that this man is a parent,” Hindin huffed.
After a heated proceeding on Jan. 24, Judge Kaplan allowed Braverman to view sensitive reports from a forensic psychologist about the couple’s three young boys.
But “the judge was adamant and very explicit,” court spokesman David Bookstaver said. “One of the clear conditions was that nothing was to be removed from the courtroom.”
A court source told The Post that Braverman, 57, waited until the judge and his adversaries left the courtroom, then allegedly tried to distract a clerk and slip the documents to Moyhi, 28. But they were caught in the act, sources said. Court officers waited until the duo returned for another hearing Thursday to cuff them.
The charges carry a maximum jail sentence of seven years.
Darya Braverman claims her boys are not safe with their doctor dad because he has tried to improperly medicate them using his prescription authority.
Dr. Braverman, wearing a dark pinstriped suit, was transported to Criminal Court late Thursday muttering, “Setup, setup.”
He has a call-in show on WABC radio and has written 11 books including a series of self-help tomes titled “Younger You.”
Representatives for Braverman and Moyhi declined to comment. (LINK) — 1/30/2014
Tribeca anti-aging doctor charged with sexually abusing woman
A wacky anti-aging doctor was arrested on charges he sexually abused a 28-year-old woman in Tribeca, the Daily News has learned.
Eric Braverman, 57, was briefly in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday where his felony sex abuse case was adjourned to a later date at which time prosecutors could file notice of an indictment.
Braverman allegedly attacked the victim, a friend or acquaintance, by pushing her onto a bed, pulling her hair and clutching her breast against her will inside a unit at a luxury high-rise building on Chambers St. near West St. about 10 p.m. on Jan. 4.
She shouted at him to “stop” and told him she did not consent to that conduct, according to his criminal complaint.
Braverman was arrested weeks later and arraigned on one count of first-degree sex abuse. He was released on his own recognizance.
When reached by phone, his attorney Barry Weinstein said only that his client “is innocent.”
Braverman was tossed in jail for 15 days in December after his conviction for attempted petit larceny stemming from a quirky stunt he pulled at the 60 Centre St. courthouse in January 2014.
He was convicted of taking a shrink report from his divorce case file against a judge’s order.
He and his attorney friend Diana Moyhi were charged in the incident. Prior to his trial, she took a favorable plea deal.
Braverman’s practice, PATH Medical, has an office at Park Ave. South and W. 23rd St. (LINK) — 4/04/2016
Social Security lawyer Conn charged with fraud, money laundering
Indictment unsealed Tuesday includes charge of conspiracy to retaliate against a witness
Grand jury found evidence that Conn conspired with a psychologist and an administrative law judge
Conn calls himself Mr. Social Security in billboard and television advertisements
Eric C. Conn, the flamboyant Eastern Kentucky lawyer who hired beauty queens and plastered himself across billboards under the nickname “Mr. Social Security,” is charged with defrauding the federal disability benefits programs of more than $600 million.
In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, a federal grand jury found probable cause to believe that Conn, 55, conspired to rig hundreds of disability claims from 2004 to 2012 with a Pikeville psychologist, Dr. Alfred Bradley Adkins, and a Social Security Administration appeals judge in Huntington, W.Va., David B. Daugherty.
Conn falsified medical documents to make his clients appear disabled and paid Adkins and other doctors $300 to $450 a piece to sign completed evaluations supporting his clients’ appeals, according to the indictment. Inside the Social Security bureaucracy, Daugherty arranged for Conn’s appeals to be assigned to him, collecting $9,000 to $9,500 every month from the lawyer in exchange for guaranteed approvals, according to the indictment.
“I’m excited about this. I hope these guys rot in jail for stealing money we didn’t have on behalf of people who weren’t really proven to be disabled,” said former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican who led a 2013 Senate investigation into Conn and Daugherty’s working relationship. “The claimants in this case were not innocent. They knew a scam was going on. Some of them may actually be disabled, but they got themselves a shyster lawyer.”
Sarah Carver, one of two case technicians at the Social Security Administration who filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Conn, Adkins, Daugherty and others in 2011, alleging benefits fraud, said the indictments aren’t enough.
“My main concern is whether the SSA will finally acknowledge the fraud and hold accountable the managers who had knowledge of it for years,” Carver said. “Some of those managers were allowed to retire with their full benefits. Others were actually promoted to higher positions.”
Conn, Adkins and Daugherty face charges including mail fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, destruction of evidence, making false statements and money laundering. The most serious charges carry criminal penalties of up to 20 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. The government also seeks $11.67 million in forfeited assets.
Attorneys for the men declined to comment Tuesday.
The indictment lists three unnamed “unindicted co-conspirators,” including two other doctors Conn used over the years and one of his former office managers.
Conn and Adkins, arrested Monday night and jailed in Pike County, both clanked into a courtroom in Lexington on Tuesday for their arraignment with chains binding their wrists and ankles. Daugherty, now retired and living in Myrtle Beach, S.C., also was arrested, but he was not present on Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Wier allowed Adkins to be released on his own recognizance, pending an initial trial date set for June 7. Adkins’ medical license has been suspended, said his attorney, Jonah Stevens.
However, at the urging of prosecutors, Wier ordered Conn to stay in jail until a detention hearing on Thursday.
If Conn is released, he’s likely to either harass witnesses in the case or flee the country, Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford told the judge. Employees of Conn’s Floyd County law firm say Conn has sworn he would escape to Cuba to avoid prison, and he has been wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to overseas accounts, Alford said. The lawyer recently put his Pikeville home on the market for $1.9 million, suggesting he has an exit plan, Alford said.
“If he were to leave, to cross a border, he could go to wherever he has stashed some money and flee,” Alford said.
Conn’s defense team includes former Kentucky Chief Justice Joseph Lambert and Lambert’s one-time chief of staff, James Deckard. Arguing unsuccessfully for Conn’s release, Deckard waved his client’s passport in the air and said Conn would agree to surrender it. Conn has cooperated with the U.S. Department of Justice investigation so far, Deckard said, including a recent trip to Washington, D.C., to provide a requested handwriting sample.
Conn has specialized in disability benefits appeals for more than 20 years. He practices out of a chain of interconnected trailers along U.S. 23 near the Floyd and Pike county line, on a lot fronted by a one-ton, 19-foot-tall statue of Abraham Lincoln.
Conn is known in Eastern Kentucky for his aggressive advertising, appearing on television and billboards; hiring Ralph Stanley to shoot a music video for him; and printing his toll-free phone number across tight shirts worn by young, buxom cheerleaders whom he called his “Conn Girls.” A few years ago, Conn hired Miss Kentucky USA for $70,000 a year to serve as his office’s public relations director, a position most small-town law firms don’t have.
However, the lawyer also drew unwelcome attention to himself. In 2002, he resigned from his practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims during an investigation into allegations of professional misconduct. In 2013, Conn pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor campaign-finance violation for trying to funnel money into the re-election campaign of Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Will T. Scott.
A decade ago, two case technicians for the Social Security Administration in Huntington — Carver and Jennifer Griffith — grew suspicious about Daugherty’s blanket approvals for Conn’s clients. They complained to their superiors and ultimately filed a whistleblower lawsuit. In return, they said, their concerns were ignored, and they were harassed by their bosses. The office’s chief judge hired a private investigator to tail Carver and try to videotape her in incriminating acts.
But word of the women’s complaints spread. In 2011, the Wall Street Journal published a detailed story about Conn and Daugherty. That was followed by more news coverage and scathingly critical reports issued by U.S. Senate and House committees. Conn declined to testify at a televised Senate hearing in October 2013, asserting his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself. Adkins pleaded ignorance, saying his background was in vocational rehabilitation.
Pictured: Eric C. Conn
“When I began performing consultative examinations for disability purposes, I had no idea how the disability benefits determination process worked,” Adkins testified. “I do not now, nor have I ever, denied having signed the RFCs (residual functional capacity forms) when they had been completed by Mr. Conn’s office staff. However, when I did so, I had no idea that doing so was against any type of procedure or accepted standard.”
Daugherty — who retired in 2011, on the heels of the Wall Street Journal story — refused to appear at the Senate hearing. Days later, police in Barboursville, W.Va., found him unconscious in his car in a church parking lot, an empty liquor bottle and an empty pill container at his side. A garden hose was connected from the car’s exhaust pipe to a rear window to flood the passenger compartment with carbon monoxide. Daugherty was hospitalized for an unspecified length of time after the incident.
Many people expected indictments to be handed up after the congressional reports, but nothing happened, said Coburn, the former senator.
“We sent all this evidence we had accumulated to the U.S. attorneys in West Virginia and in that part of Kentucky,” Coburn said. “It was a slam-dunk case. I mean, we had witnesses, we had bank records, we had the medical files, we had everything. But for whatever reason, nobody wanted to move on it.”
Finally, last May, the Social Security Administration acted by telling hundreds of Conn’s former clients that it would cut off their disability checks and redetermine their eligibility. The agency said it suspected that claims Conn submitted for his clients included fraudulent information.
The news sent a shock wave through Eastern Kentucky because disability income is a big part of the region’s economy. In Floyd County, Conn’s home base, more than 10 percent of the population drew disability benefits in 2014 from the federal Supplemental Security Income program.
After a request by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, Social Security officials agreed to continue people’s disability checks while redetermining their eligibility. Those hearings continue. (LINK) — 4/05/2016
Doctor Mentioned In Conn Letter Arrested In Pike County By US Marshals
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (EKB) - A doctor mentioned in a letter issued by the Social Security Administration in relation to attorney Eric C. Conn has been arrested by US Marshals.
Dr. Alfred Bradley Adkins, who was listed as one of four doctors in a letter revoking benefits for Conn’s clients, is being held in the Pike County Detention Center. In the letter sent to 1500 of Conn’s clients, the SSA said the recipients’ cases were being reviewed due to suspicions of fraud by Stanville attorney Eric C. Conn and the four doctors.
Those doctors include Adkins, Dr. Srinivas Ammisetty, Dr. David P. Herr and Dr. Frederic Huffnagle. Dr. Huffnagle passed away in 2010.
There are no details about the charges Adkins will be facing. There is also no word at this time whether the arrest is related to Conn’s case. (LINK) — 4/05/2016
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—A 48704 LICENSE STATUS/DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—License renewed & current; Limits on practice; probation
Fullerton Neurologist Dr. Sung-Un Park Slapped by State Medical Board
The Medical Board of California has disciplined a Fullerton neurologist who kept prescribing medications to a patient who actually needed surgery to remove a skull tumor.
Effective 5 p.m. March 30, Dr. Sung-Un Park’s physician and surgeon certificate was revoked by the state board, although that order is stayed pending successful completion of terms of a four-year probationary period.
The 58-year-old male patient began experiencing headaches in July 2010, and his primary care physician, via an MRI, discovered a mass developing on the man’s skull.
The patient was sent by his doctor to Park, who received an initial referral document that referenced the mass.
Park told the patient he was suffering from tension headaches and prescribed Imipramine, an “off-label” antidepressant often used to treat chronic pain, according to the medical board. Park added he would consider the MRI results only if the meds did not take care of the problem.
The patient returned to Park because of headaches in November 2010, and this time he was prescribed Topiramate, an anti-epilepsy drug often used for weight loss, and Botox injections were discussed.
A severe frontal headache sent the patient to the Tri-City Regional Medical Center emergency room in Hawaiian Gardens on Jan. 24, 2011, when a CT scan revealed there had been little change to the previously discovered “large sella/suprasellar mass,” the medical board reports.
Discharged with a handout on cluster headaches, the patient was instructed to follow up with his neurologist the next morning. Park evaluated the patient on Jan. 26, 2011, and found improvement with the migraines and meningioma, a tumor that often occurs in the brain, causes no symptoms and requires no treatment, although some meningioma tumors can be cancerous and cause death, the board states.
Park reassured the patient about meningioma and suggested Advil for pain, along with continuing Imipramine and Topamax. The patient returned to Park in May, August and September of 2011 because the headaches were not going away, but the neurologist found no structural cause for the pain, explaining it was his impression chronic tension headaches were still the cause. Park would add prescriptions of a sleeping pill, the pain medication Vicoprofen, more Topamax, the anti-depressant Pamelor and a Vicodin/Advil combo during these visits.
On Feb. 23, 2012, the patient was admitted to Long Beach Memorial Hospital, given a biopsy and taken into surgery for removal of the tumor on his skull.
The medical board found Park’s treatment of the patient had been “an extreme departure from the standard of care.”
Park can survive the probationary period without losing his license if he: enrolls in a clinical training program; is monitored for a month by a board designee; gives notification of the discipline to all the clinics and hospitals where he has privileges; supervises no physician assistants during his probationary period; obeys all laws; submits quarterly reports to the board; informs the board if he does not practice medicine for long periods of time; makes himself available for board interviews; and bears the costs for all the monitoring of his practice.
Should Park fail to abide by the probationary terms, he will be forced to surrender his medical license, according to the board. (LINK) — 4/05/2016
MEDICAL BOARD ACTION
FOUR YEARS PROBATION WITH VARIOUS TERMS AND CONDITIONS. DURING PROBATION, DR. PARK IS PROHIBITED FROM SUPERVISING PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS.
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—ME61264 LICENSE STATUS/DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—License active; no actions listed as of 11/27/2016
Local doctor accused of running ‘pill mill’
A local cancer doctor and his live-in girlfriend/assistant are accused as principals in the operation of a possible “pill mill” out of his home in Marianna.
According to court records, 60-year-old oncologist Dr. David Arthur Flick and Kelly Jo Duncan, 45, are each charged with 14 counts of being a “principal to obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.”
Officials with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement allege that “Flick and Kelly Duncan are operating a ‘pill mill’ operation out of Flick’s residence for the sole purpose of monetary gain. Flick is seeing ‘patients’ on a regular month to month basis and is charging each patient between $75 and $250 a visit. Flick is prescribing abnormal amounts of controlled substances from his residence to individuals who are clearly abusing and selling the prescription pills,” the document asserts.
According to the affidavit for the arrest of Flick, authorities allege the physician prescribed 48,896 pills and/or other types of controlled substances from his home at 4330 Maywood Dr. between February and November of 2015.
The investigation into Flick’s activities began after a probe into the activities of an individual in another county who was allegedly selling large amounts of illegal drugs to people in Bay and Calhoun counties. During this investigation, officials say they intercepted phone calls between that suspect and Duncan in which they discussed acquiring prescriptions from a doctor, later identified as Flick, and the selling, purchasing and trading of prescription pills.
Authorities allege that Duncan had individuals meet her and Flick at their home to acquire prescriptions for the pills.
“Flick was a licensed doctor who is prescribing highly abused controlled substances from his residence, not his Drug Enforcement Agency-approved registered location,” his arrest affidavit states.
“Flick would receive cash or narcotics as payment for him writing a prescription for a controlled substance to a ‘patient,’ Flick did not conduct a formal physical or checkup and failed to refer patients to other doctors in an attempt to remedy the patients’ issues,” the document continued.
Flick had worked for Jackson Hospital but he and the facility parted ways in January of 2015, hospital officials saying that separation occurred as a result of an inability to come to favorable financial terms as to his continued active staff member with privileges at the hospital.
Officials say he began his at-home prescription-writing operation shortly after that separation. Authorities said he charged each patient $250 to be seen, the prescribed them certain pills.
Officials listed Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Methadone, Subutex, Lorazepam, Temazepam, Diazepam, Zolpidem, Alprazolam, Vyvanse, Phentermine, Clonazepam, Carisoprodol and Dextroamphetamine among the medications that Flick is accused of fraudulently prescribed.
Authorities accuse Duncan of being “an intricate part of Flick’s ‘pill mill’ operation.” The affidavit related to her arrest goes on to say that officials believe she “actively recruits and requests current patients to refer new patients to see Flick.”
Investigators further allege that she “knows that some of these patients are illegally selling the prescription pills that the get from Flick and continues to set up appointments between them and Flick to receive prescriptions.” Authorities allege that Duncan works for Flick but does not receive a paycheck. Instead, officials assert, she “gets paid in prescription pills or other illegal narcotics by patents that she recommends to see Flick.” The affidavit goes on to allege that “with the assistance of Kelly Jo Duncan, Dr. Flick has fraudulently prescribed” the medications listed above.
His bail was set at $70,000 and he has posted the required amount, which can be set at a small percentage of the total. The total he paid was not immediately available. As a condition of his release, he was ordered not to leave the continental U.S.
Officials anticipate a March arraignment in his case. (LINK) — 1/25/2016
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—MD.016807 LICENSE STATUS/DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—License Active; no actions listed as of 11/27/2016
Ruston doctor charged with 51 counts of writing fraudulent prescriptions
RUSTON, La (KNOE 8 News) - A two year investigation by state police has led to the arrest of a Ruston doctor charged with 51 counts of writing fraudulent prescriptions.
State police say Richard Ballard and William Rasberry, a nurse who worked for him, were arrested as part of the investigation.
Combined, the two were charged with 142 counts of prescribing unlawful narcotics.
Ballard practices at The Green Clinic in Ruston and was arrested Friday.
Reports say he’s since bonded out and returned to work. (LINK) — 4/07/2016
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—119687 LICENSE STATUS/DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—Disciplinary revocation; see bottom of this blog post
Four doctors who were convicted of felonies
In 2002, a federal judge sent Dr. Rajitha Goli to prison for one year and made her pay back nearly $650,000 from a kickback and fraudulent billing scheme involving a hospital in Nebraska.
The Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts board revoked her license and gave her the maximum penalty: seven years. She went to practice in Illinois, where doctors don’t automatically lose their licenses until they’ve been convicted of two felonies. She worked out of Trinity United Methodist Outreach Center in Washington Park, a place where she provided mostly charity care to poor people, her husband said.
But at the same time, she worked for a doctor in De Soto who paid her illegally because she was banned from receiving payments from Medicare. In that case, she was charged with lying to a federal agent and sentenced to more than three years in a federal prison.
Before going to prison, she helped arrange for Dr. Krishnarao Rednam to practice at the clinic, said Goli’s husband, Chuck Johnson.
Goli could not be reached. Johnson said she planned to return to medicine when she was released from prison. (LINK) — 11/07/2010
Missouri denies medical license to doctor convicted in fraud case
The board that regulates Missouri physicians has denied a medical license to a St. Louis-area doctor who has twice been sentenced to federal prison.
The Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts found that Rajitha Johnson, 56, formerly Rajitha Goli, did not present satisfactory evidence of “good moral character.”
In 2002, a federal judge sent Johnson to prison for one year and made her pay back nearly $650,000 from a kickback and fraudulent billing scheme involving a hospital in Nebraska.
The healing arts board revoked her license and gave her the maximum time she would have to wait to reapply: seven years.
After her revocation in Missouri, Johnson worked at a clinic in Illinois, where she was still licensed. But she also worked for a doctor in De Soto who paid her illegally because she was banned from receiving payments from Medicare. In that case, she was charged with lying to a federal agent and sentenced to more than three years in a federal prison.
In an interview in 2010, Johnson’s husband said she planned to return to medicine when she was released from prison.
The Missouri board found that Johnson had also made untruthful statements about her certification in internal medicine to the Hawaii Medical Board in 2014 when applying for a license there.
Johnson could not be reached for comment. She can appeal the license denial to the state Administrative Hearing Commission by the end of April. (LINK) — 4/08/2016
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—OPT.0001156 LICENSE STATUS/DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—License suspended; see medical board actions at the bottom of this blog post.
Centennial optometrist admits to decades of sexual misconduct
CENTENNIAL, Colo. – A longtime optometrist admitted to investigators he had sexual relations with at least 10 former or current patients and dated four staffers since 1985, the FOX31 Denver Problem Solvers learned.
The revelations came in a court document released this week by the Colorado Optometry Board, which is asking Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman to revoke the license of Dr. Paul Conkling.
Conkling was chairman of the Colorado Optometry Board until he was forced to resign from the board in February after fellow board members issued an emergency suspension of his license related to a patient complaint filed on Dec. 24.
Conkling initially denied the accusation, but when two more anonymous complaints were filed with the state – one in February and one in March – investigators dug deeper and learned he tried to get the first accuser to drop her complaint with the board.
According to court documents on March 9, Conkling admitted his method of operation was “to pick out unhappy, adult female patients whom he had worked with for a long time and engage in sexualized conversations prior to starting to try to engage in romantic or sexual contact with these patients.”
He added he had been engaging in these acts since 1985 and that his wife was a former patient.
Conkling’s accusers wouldn’t speak on camera, but by email, one said Conkling would joke about sex during private eye exams, place his hand on the patient’s leg and ask for oral sex.
When the Problem Solvers confronted Conkling in his driveway he admitted, “I made mistakes and I’m paying for them.” When asked if he wanted to apologize to his accusers, Conkling responded, “I would like to do that at the appropriate time.”
The Colorado Optometry Board has forwarded the investigation to the Attorney General’s Office, which could have Conkling’s license permanently revoked, according to Cory Everett, chief of staff for the Department of Regulatory Agencies.
“The board takes very seriously any conduct that places the consumer at risk,” Everett said. “Because this is an ongoing matter, I can’t discuss any of the details related to the case, however, I can tell you the board took immediate action to remove Dr. Conkling from practice.”
A letter shared with patients at his Family Eye Clinic optometry practice at 6881 S. Yosemite St. in Centennial said Conkling has decided to retire after 33 years.
When the Problem Solvers asked why he retired, the reason given was for “medical reasons.” But moments after mentioning his license had been suspended, his nameplate was removed from the lobby’s entrance.
Conkling confirmed he never plans to practice optometry again.
"I just want to get on with my life, rebuild my family life and I want to do it quietly,” he said.
He also said he wanted the women who filed the complaints to know, “I meant no harm.” (LINK) — 4/08/2016
MEDICAL BOARD ACTIONS
2015-5115 ID Hearing Formal Complaint/Charges Filed with OAC Summary Suspension 04/05/2016 2015-5115 ITRM Cessation of Practice Summary Suspension 02/04/20160-3/25/2016 2015-5115 ITRM Summary Suspension Summary Suspension 03/25/2016
MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—43435 LICENSE STATUS/DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—Deceased
Atlanta doctor was arrested days before dying in house fire
The Atlanta doctor who died in a mysterious house fire Saturday was arrested days before for allegedly attacking a woman at the residence, police said.
Dr. Marcus Moseley was charged with battery Thursday when he repeatedly punched a woman he believed was having an affair with his wife, according to the Atlanta Police report.
“At this time, it is not clear if the two incidents (domestic and death) are related,” said a statement Thursday by Atlanta Police Sgt. Warren Pickard. “All possibilities are being considered as we continue to work this death investigation.”
He added, “We have spoken to all parties involved who are being cooperative with authorities on the investigation.”
Dr. Marcus Moseley was charged with battery Thursday, March 31, 2016, after he allegedly attacked a woman he believed was having an affair with his wife, according to the Atlanta Police report.
“At this time, it is not clear if the two incidents (domestic and death) are related,” said a statement Thursday by Atlanta Police Sgt. Warren Pickard. “All possibilities are being considered as we continue to work this death investigation.
”He added, “We have spoken to all parties involved who are being cooperative with authorities on the investigation.”
The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office has yet to determine the cause of death for Moseley, 48.
On Saturday evening, witnesses say they saw Moseley running out of his home, on fire and barely wearing any clothes, toward the backyard area, said Atlanta fire Sgt. Cortez Stafford. Moseley’s body was recovered from the backyard pool.
Two days before, Moseley’s wife, Anita Moseley, told police that her husband came home unexpectedly Thursday and attacked her friend. She said the woman had come to the home to comfort her on a day she was scheduled for surgery, according to the police report.
Marcus Moseley told police he believed the two women were having an affair, and that he became enraged when he saw them sitting close together in a back bedroom of the home, the report said. Police said he acknowledged he attacked the woman.
Anita Moseley told police she jumped in between her husband and the woman as he was punching her in the face and head.
The woman, who suffered a bruise on her forehead and cuts on her lips, was treated at the scene. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has chosen not to identify the woman because she could not be reached for comment to confirm the story in the police report. Anita Moseley also could not be reached for comment.
Anita Moseley is the owner of the property, according to Fulton County property tax records. The house is described as a one-story ranch having five bedrooms, two full baths and two half baths, and a pool. She bought the house in 2012.
The Atlanta Fire Department’s incident report on the 6:15 p.m. fire listed a liquid or gas as a “contributing factor.” The report also listed the cause of the fire as “intentional,” although fire authorities said that was a preliminary judgment and they are continuing to investigate the blaze as arson. The AJC obtained the report through the State Open Records Act.
Officials are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the fire and how Moseley ended up dead in the pool.
Moseley was born and raised in Chicago, according to his biography on the website Your Doctor’s Immediate Care, a Macon-based group of urgent care physicians. His bio states that he loved what he did for a living and believed he was brought into this world to perform “The Practice of Medicine.” He attended the Medical College of Wisconsin and received his medical degree in 1996. Moseley was married with three children, the website states. (LINK) — 4/07/2016
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