A former Hillsboro urgent care doctor has been sentenced to serve time in prison for improperly prescribing opioids to patients.
Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky A. Coss sentenced Timothy Manuel, M.D., 59, to serve five years in prison, Thursday.
The case was prosecuted by attorneys with Attorney General DeWine's Special Prosecutions Section.
"Rather than treating patients using a legitimate plan of care, the defendant did nothing more than criminally dispense addictive pills," said Attorney General DeWine. "The over-prescribing of prescription drugs is one of the factors that led us to the opioid epidemic that we are in today, and I believe that prison time is appropriate for this case."
Dr. Manuel pleaded guilty last month to four counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs and one count of workers' compensation fraud.
The defendant was indicted last year after an investigation by the Ohio Board of Pharmacy and Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) found that he prescribed large amounts of medically-unnecessary oxycodone to numerous patients while working as a doctor at Hillsboro Urgent Care. He also billed the Ohio BWC for medical services that were never provided.
The case was investigated with the assistance of the State Medical Board of Ohio, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.