A Macomb County doctor will spend more than a decade in prison for his role in a multi-million dollar illegal opioid scheme.
Shelby Township physician Lawrence Mark Sherman, 75, was sentenced to 12 years for illegally distributing over 270,000 opioid pills worth more than $6.3 million.
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The 75-year-old was charged based on his involvement in the operation of Tranquility Wellness Center, Inc., from March 2020 through June 2021.
Court documents said Sherman worked part-time, which operated first in Dearborn and later in St. Clair Shores.
Sherman unlawfully prescribed oxycodone, oxymorphone, and oxycodone-acetaminophen 10 (Percocet), three of the most addictive prescription opioids primarily.
Prescription drugs are also among the most highly diverted prescription opioids due to their high street value.
Federal agents first executed a search warrant in 2021. The other defendants charged in the case, including clinic operators Janeice Burrell and Angelo Smith, clinic employee Akeyla Bell, and Peter Burrell, previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced.
Sherman conspired with the other defendants to illegally authorize more than 3,000 opioid prescriptions for supposed “Patients” who did not have a legitimate medical need for the drugs and who were typically brought to the clinic by “Patient recruiters/marketers.”
Tranquility Wellness Center accepted only cash and charged patients based on the quantity, type, and dosage of prescription opioids that the “Patient” received, not the service provided.
The clinic also charged cash for creating fraudulent medical records for the supposed “Patients.”
Janeice Burrell and Angelo Smith paid Sherman in cash or peer-to-peer money transfer application and only paid him if he wrote controlled substance prescriptions, not based on any supposed “Medical care.”
Court documents said Sherman issued more than 270,000 dosage units of Schedule II opioid prescriptions during the conspiracy. The controlled substances had a street value above $6.3 million.
While the controlled substance prescriptions were paid for in cash, pharmacies billed both controlled and non-controlled “Maintenance” medications to healthcare benefit programs.
During this conspiracy, billings to the Medicare and Medicaid programs for medically unnecessary prescription drugs and maintenance medications exceeded $500,000.