TEXARKANA, Ark. -- The government opposes defense motions to sever allegations of opioid distribution from ones involving healthcare fraud in a federal criminal case involving Lansdell Family Clinics.
A one-count indictment unsealed in March accused five nurse practitioners and three pharmacists of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, particularly opioids, without a legitimate prescription. A superseding indictment filed in April adds five defendants and allegations of health care fraud and wire fraud related to federal pandemic relief funds.
Count 1 of the superseding indictment includes allegations identical to those in the original indictment and names as defendants nurse practitioners Tawnya Lee Lansdell, Claire Terece Russell, Wendy Wynette Gammon, Shelly Rae Eastridge and Bonita Lois Martin and pharmacists Candace Michelle Whitley, Gina M. Richardson and Stephen Haden Sullivan.
The only defendant named in the superseding indictment in Count 1 -- which alleges conspiracy to distribute opioids -- who is also accused of fraud is the lead defendant and owner of Lansdell Family Clinics, Tawnya Lee Lansdell. Defendants added in Counts 2-5, which allege fraud, include Tawnya Lansdell's husband, Michael Lansdell; her brother, Rusty Lynn Griffin; and her nephew, Michael "Mick" Wallace Martin.
Lansdell Family Clinic PLLC and Lansdell Farms LLC are also charged in the superseding indictment in counts alleging fraud in the form of overbilling for services provided, billing for services not provided and misconduct involving pandemic relief funds.
Little Rock lawyer John Wesley Hall filed a motion to sever on behalf of Richardson and Little Rock lawyer Michael O'Quinn filed a motion to sever on behalf of Gammon. The motions argue that with the exception of Tawnya Lansdell, the nurses and pharmacists accused in Count 1 will be prejudiced if they are tried with the defendants accused of fraud.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Gardner filed a response to the motions opposing separating the cases.
According to the government's response, the nurse practitioner defendants worked at clinics in Texarkana, De Queen, Dierks and Lockesburg, Arkansas, and the pharmacist defendants worked at Pruitt's pharmacy, which was adjoined to Lansdell Family Clinic in De Queen.
The reponse describes the "overall scheme common to the defendants" as profiting from operating Lansdell Family Clinic and alleges "the evidence required to prove each count is overlapping."
"For example, to prove count one, the United States must offer evidence of the organization of the Lansdell Family Clinic under the direction of Tawnya Lansdell and Michael Lansdell. The United States must offer evidence of each of the practitioners working at the clinic and the scheme to overprescribe controlled substances. Within that evidence is evidence of overbilling for medical services provided to the same patients, resulting in healthcare fraud," the response states.
The response continues by stating that the "transactions are inseparably intertwined, and the evidence concerning overprescribing opioids, overbilling of services, and the operation of the clinic comprising the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan documentation are overlapping," the response states.
The defense motions argue that the allegations in Count 1 of the superseding indictment constitute a "drug case," while those in the newer counts constitute a separate "fraud case."
"The health care fraud and PPP fraud counts have nothing at all to do with the other seven defendants charged with a drug offense and is an entirely unrelated offense," according to the motion filed by Hall on Richardson's behalf. "The only link is the lead defendant."
U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey has not ruled on the motions. The case is pending in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas.