Former Tennessee Clinic Owner Sentenced for Opioid Distribution | OPA

A former nurse practitioner and clinic owner was sentenced in the Eastern District of Tennessee today to 14 years in prison for illegally distributing prescription opioid pills to his patients.

Mark Daniel Allen, 64, of Venice, Florida, was found guilty of six counts of unlawfully distributing controlled substances not for a legitimate medical purpose outside the scope of professional practice and one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises after a three-day trial on Sept. 1, 2021.

According to evidence presented at trial, Allen unlawfully prescribed roughly 15,000 opioid pills to three women with whom he had sexual relationships, and to a male patient who later passed away.

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

The FBI, HHS-OIG, TBI, Manchester Police Department and Coffee County Sheriff’s Office 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 prosecuted the case.