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Home > Blogs > Dayton area crime > Archives > 2009 > September > 11 > Entry
Oakwood doctor gets prison for prescription drug ring
DAYTON - The Oakwood doctor authorities said was at the center of a prescription ring was sentenced to seven years in prison today, Sept. 11, by a U.S. District Court judge.
Richard Sievers, 53, distributed more than 700,000 dosage units of controlled substances worth an estimated $5 million out of his storefront medical clinic between January and November of 2007, authorities said.
Sievers pleaded guilty on June 10 in federal court to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute narcotics. In all, 10 people have been convicted for their role in the drug trafficking ring, including at least two of Sievers’ employees.
Sievers, of 301 Orchard Drive, Oakwood, owned and operated Walnut Hills Family Care, 1900 Wayne Ave. From his offices he conspired with others to traffic OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Methadone, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s office.
The mixture of anti-anxiety pills and addictive painkillers is commonly referred to as a “360 cocktail,” according to an FBI affidavit filed in U.S. District Court.
An informant used by the FBI said he would pay Sievers $200 for each bogus prescription, according to the FBI. The prescription was filled at a local pharmacy and delivered to alleged drug dealer Lance E. Horn, 40, of Franklin, authorities said.
You can read our investigation into Sievers’ drug-trafficking ring by clicking here.
Shortly after opening his practice, Sievers hired Sherry Marshall to be his office manager and her husband, Kenneth Marshall, to do odd jobs around the office.
Neighbors and friends said Sievers knew the Marshalls and trusted them.
By February 2007, Sievers and the Marshalls used his office to supply prescription drugs to area drug dealers, authorities said.
At first, Sievers personally saw the patients, wrote bogus prescriptions, took $200 and walked out of the room, according to the FBI.
Word of Sievers’ willingness to write the bogus prescriptions spread to a handful of alleged drug dealers, including Horn. Almost immediately more people started showing up at his office wanting more pills, said John Burke, commander of the Warren County task force.
Horn suddenly emerged as the top prescription drug dealer in Warren County, according to the FBI.
As the patient list grew, FBI informants said Sievers distanced himself by enlisting Sherry Marshall to handle the overall operation of issuing the bogus prescriptions. She was paid $100 of the $200 for her services, according to the FBI.
Kenneth Marshall became the muscle, Burke said.
“Someone had to handle all the people that started showing up at his office,” Burke said. “Some of them would act out if they didn’t get their pills fast enough.”
The operation grew so rapidly that by March 2007, pharmacies in Montgomery County were calling Sievers’ office, questioning the prescriptions for the addictive painkillers not normally prescribed by a family doctor.
The pharmacies also alerted local law-enforcement agencies, which sparked the investigation into Sievers’ practice.
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