Former East Tennessee Clinic Owner Convicted of Unlawful Opioid Distribution | OPA

A federal jury in the Eastern District of Tennessee convicted a former nurse practitioner yesterday of unlawfully distributing prescription opioids to patients at a clinic he owned in Manchester, Tennessee.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Mark Allen, 64, now of Destin, Florida, distributed oxycodone not for a legitimate medical purpose outside the course of professional practice and used his clinic for unlawful drug distribution. Specifically, the evidence showed that through his clinic, Volunteer Family Medical, he wrote controlled substance prescriptions for more than 15,000 pills to three women with whom he had sexual relationships, and a male patient who later passed away.

Allen was convicted of one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises and six counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance outside the scope of professional practice. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 21, 2022, and faces up to 20 years in prison per count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee; Special Agent in Charge Joseph Carrico of the FBI’s Knoxville Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Derrick Jones of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); and Assistant Director Mike Cox of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) made the announcement.

The FBI, HHS-OIG, and TBI investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Emily Petro of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney James Brooks of the Eastern District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.