MARTINSVILLE, Va. – A former Martinsville doctor was convicted on 467 federal charges of drug distribution, according to the U.S Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Virginia.
Joel Smithers was found guilty of multiple drug charges after a three week jury trial last week in U.S District Court in Abingdon.
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42-year-old Smithers was convicted by the jury after 16 hours of deliberation, on one count of maintaining a place for the purpose of illegally distributing controlled substances and 466 counts of illegally prescribing Schedule II controlled substances.
“Patients trust doctors to make decisions based on their healthcare needs, not a perversion of their own greed,” Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said today. “For many years, this defendant betrayed the trust placed in him by his patients, his community, and the medical profession as a whole through his illegal distribution of thousands of medically unnecessary opioids. I am grateful to the entire prosecution team for bringing this case to justice.”
“Physicians have critical roles in addressing the opioid epidemic and ensuring appropriate care for patients with pain and other illness,” mentioned DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge Shane Todd. “Healthcare providers have a vital responsibility when it comes to properly prescribing and dispensing medications and must be vigilant to prevent diversion. Today’s conviction demonstrates Smithers’s criminal indifference to the lives of others, and to the families who loved them. His reckless and fraudulent practices placed profits over the lives of his patients. We’re working hard with our partners to keep our communities and families safe from such tragic outcomes.”
“The existence of these ‘pill mills’ flooding southwest Virginia with controlled substances violates one of the first principles of the Hippocratic Oath: to do no harm,” said Attorney General Jason Miyares. “Joel Smithers did not seek to treat patients but rather sought to destroy lives for profit. I am grateful to both the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for their resilience and professionalism in this and many other instances. My special thanks goes out to Virginia’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for their exemplary work in keeping our citizens safe.”
10 News has learned that evidence presented at trial showed Smithers opened an office in Martinsville in August of 2015 and prescribed controlled substances to every patient in his practice resulting in over 500,000 Schedule II controlled substances being distributed.
Smithers was initially convicted on these charges in 2019 but after his conviction the United States Supreme Court changed the law concerning injury instructions in cases involving illegal distribution of controlled substances by health care providers so a new trial was ordered.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 3, at 10:00 a.m. in Abingdon. For each distribution count, Smithers faces a maximum sentence of imprisonment for a term of 20 years and a fine of $1,000,000.
The conviction for maintaining a place for the illegal distribution of controlled substances carries a maximum sentence of imprisonment for a term of 20 years and a fine of $500,000.