SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – A doctor and patient recruiter from a medical clinic in Southfield have been charged in a scheme to prescribe around $17 million worth of prescription drugs to people who didn’t need them.
From May 2018 through March 2021, Dr. John Kirkpatrick, 83, of Birmingham, and Roland Williams, of Detroit, operated their conspiracy out of Southfield Medical Services, according to authorities.
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The pair would recruit “patients” who didn’t have legitimate needs for the drugs and issue them prescriptions outside the scope of medical practice, officials said.
Kirkpatrick only accepted cash at his clinic and utilized the location to prescribe oxycodone and oxymorphone -- two of the most addictive and diverted opioids, according to authorities. Both have a significant street value, police said.
Kirkpatrick required each “patient” to have certain records in a file before he would write them a prescription for a controlled substance, according to officials.
Williams and others created fake medical records, including MRI and Michigan Automated Prescription System reports, to make the operation seem legitimate, authorities said.
Kirkpatrick authorized electronic prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances, officials said. They were issued under his DEA license and without a medical evaluation, according to police.
During the conspiracy, Kirkpatrick prescribed more than 574,604 doses of Schedule II controlled substances, which has a street value of more than $17 million, authorities estimate.
An indictment charging Kirkpatrick and Williams with conspiracy to illegally distribute prescription drugs and other opioid-related charges was unsealed Friday (Jan. 28).