Michigan Doctor Receives 12-Year Sentence For Opioid Distribution Valued At Over $6M

DETROIT –  Federal prosecutors announced that a Michigan physician has been sentenced to more than ten years in federal prison for smuggling thousands of opioid pills, which were worth over $6 million on the black market.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Michigan, and federal court documents, Lawrence Mark Sherman, 75, was found guilty of 20 offences by a jury in December.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Judith Levy sentenced him to 12 years in federal prison. Sherman allegedly distributed over 270,000 illegally, for a total estimated value of over $6.3 million, according to the prosecution.

The tablets contained three highly addictive prescription opioids—Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, and Percocet—all of which are highly valuable on the black market.

Sherman was employed part-time at Tranquilly Wellness Centre Inc. from the spring of 2020 to June 2021; this was the basis for the allegations.

Prosecutors claim that Sherman illegally administered the medications at the centre, which was first located in Dearborn, Michigan, and then moved to St. Clair Shores, Michigan.

“Prescription Drug Dealer”

In June 2021, Sherman and the centre were the targets of search and arrest warrants executed by federal officials; four other individuals associated with the facility were also charged. The announcement states that the remaining defendants entered guilty pleas and received sentences.

Evidence presented during the trial, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, demonstrated Sherman’s collusion with the other defendants to unlawfully approve over 3,000 prescriptions for opioids for fictitious “patients” who were brought to the centre by “patient recruiter/marketers” and did not actually need the drugs for medical purposes.

Prosecutors claimed that the facility only took cash and that “patients” were only charged for the specific amount, kind, and dosage of prescribed opioids they were given. Furthermore, it made up fake medical records for the “patients.”

The announcement states that the jury was also presented with evidence and testimony indicating that Sherman had written prescriptions for more than 270,000 Schedule II opioid dosage units, with a street value exceeding $6.3 million.

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Pharmacies billed health care benefit programmes for both controlled and noncontrolled “maintenance” medications, according to the prosecution, even though the illegal controlled substance prescriptions were paid for with cash. During the conspiracy, more than $500,000 in bills for maintenance and medically unnecessary prescription drug prescriptions were submitted to Medicare and Medicaid programmes.

According to their sentencing brief submitted to the court, prosecutors think Sherman got roughly $168,000 in earnings from his involvement in the scheme, despite the fact that Sherman “did not practise actual medicine at Tranquilly.” Using prescription drugs, he was a drug dealer.”

Sherman served as the medical director of the Macomb County Jail from 2014 to 2017, prior to starting a part-time employment at Tranquilly, as stated in the sentencing memorandum. According to the report, he and his spouse, a retired nurse, are worth over $1.1 million and possess a house in Michigan, a second home worth $650,000 in Florida, and a retirement account with about $1 million.

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Opioid Crisis In the United States

More than 40% of Americans know someone who has passed away from a drug overdose, according to a February RAND survey.

According to RAND, more than 1.1 million individuals have died in the US from drug overdoses since 2000, accounting for over 109,000 deaths in 2022.

Opioids, which include heroin and prescription medications, are responsible for most drug overdose deaths, according to the State Health Access Data Assistance Centre. However, the use of synthetic opioids like fentanyl in drug overdose instances has increased recently.

As per the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl has the potential to be 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Illegally manufactured fentanyl is usually linked to recent overdose instances involving the drug.

As per the CDC, “it plays a significant role in both lethal and nonlethal overdoses in the United States.” “Over 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.”

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More than 17.9 million fentanyl tablets have reportedly been found so far in 2024, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. More than 78.4 million fentanyl-laced tablets and approximately 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder were seized by the DEA in 2023, totalling more than 376.7 million lethal doses of the drug.

Prosecutors recommended more than 16 years in prison, saying it was “against the oath he took as a doctor.” According to their sentencing letter, they claimed Sherman ‘sold his medical licence for the easy money that came with illegally injecting nearly 270,000 extremely addictive prescription opioid pills into the community he was supposed to serve’…

As per the memorandum, Sherman conducted a “brief, cookie-cutter office visit with each “patient” on their initial visit. Sherman received $100 if he prescribed an opioid to the “patient”; if not, he did not receive any payment, even though he completed the “visit.”

Sherman then, according to the report, electronically wrote further monthly opioid prescriptions in the names of “patients” upon request and payment from the recruiter or “patient,” all without speaking with the “patient” or doing any drug tests on their urine.

In a sentencing memorandum, Sherman’s lawyer, Summer McKeivier, stated that the 74-year-old Sherman had dedicated decades of his life to helping traditionally underprivileged neighbourhoods and making medical advancements. That document asked that a three-year prison sentence be adequate, but not more than was required.

“Although Dr. Sherman contests the jury’s decisions, he does not dispute the gravity of the crimes,” McKeivier noted in the memo. “Almost fifty years ago, Dr. Sherman enrolled in medical school. Since then, he has seen the flaws in the healthcare system and has tried to address them while simultaneously providing care for the patients and abiding by his ethical obligation to “do no harm.” Dr Sherman recognises the gravity of the situation and has a vast understanding of the atrocities brought about by the opiate pandemic.”

Because of his convictions, McKeivier wrote, Sherman will no longer be able to prescribe restricted medications and his DEA registration will be withdrawn.

Sherman’s sentencing memo stated that should the court order him to serve time in prison, he would like to be housed near his home and have access to the vocational and rehabilitative programmes offered by the FCC Coleman Camp, a low-security facility in Florida.

On Friday, McKeivier was not immediately reachable.

The release from U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison’s office stated that medical practitioners “have both an opportunity and a duty to help address the terrible impact the opioid epidemic has had on our community, but Dr. Sherman chose to only make it worse.”

The FBI special agent in charge of Michigan, Cheyvoryea Gibson, concurred, stating that Sherman’s conduct “endangered countless lives, which goes against the oath he took as a doctor.”