LONOKE COUNTY, AR – A Little Rock doctor has been arrested on 187 counts of fraudulent practices involving prescriptions.
The Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) says Dr. Richard Johns, 49, was arrested early Monday afternoon and taken to the Lonoke County Detention Center on no bond until his first court appearance on Tuesday.
The LCSO says this investigation first began in November 2014 when detectives responded to an overdose death outside of Cabot.
Early in the investigation, detectives learned that the overdose was suspected to be connected to a fraudulent prescription obtained from Dr. Johns. The sheriff’s office asked for help from the Drug Enforcement Administration Diversion Group and began a joint investigation into the doctor and the suspected criminal enterprise headed by him.
Deputies say the investigation determined that 187 fraudulent prescriptions have been filled and distributed within the illicit market in Lonoke County alone. That is about 16,830 Oxycodone pills with a street value of $505,000 since July of 2014.
Lonoke County is one of several places the fraudulent prescriptions are being filled and distributed. This is an on-going joint investigation with the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office, Central Arkansas Drug Task Force, DEA, FBI, and Arkansas State Police.
Several more arrests are expected in the near future.
The LCSO says in a news release issued Monday that this case is one of the best examples of how law enforcement agencies are joining forces to combat the ever growing prescription drug problem in the state of Arkansas. In 2011, Arkansas implemented the Prescription Monitoring Program by Legislative Act 304. This database is assisting law enforcement in conducting criminal investigations against doctors who choose to sell prescriptions within the illicit market in this state.
Anyone with information on this case or Dr. Johns is urged to call the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office at (501) 676-3001 or the DEA Diversion Group at (501) 217-6500.