Presumably Dr. Walt Dawkins, pre-”Dr. Feelgood” project, this from his Facebook page
WAYNE CO./BENTON—The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois announced this afternoon that a former dentist in Fairfield is going to be spending a little more than a year behind bars for a couple of crimes.
We’ll let the press release tell it:
Walter L. Dawkins, D.M.D., 60, of Fairfield, Illinois, was sentenced today in federal court in Benton, Illinois, to one year and one day confinement in the Bureau of Prisons for health care program fraud against Medicaid and illegal distribution of the Schedule III controlled substance Hydrocodone, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced. The offenses involved hundreds of hydrocodone prescriptions written outside the course of professional medical practice, some of which were billed to Illinois Medicaid. The Court also imposed 3 years’ supervised release following imprisonment, a $900 fine, and restitution to the Illinois Medicaid program in the amount of $1,242.68.
“I will always maintain the position that it does not matter who you are or what you do. If you defraud the citizens of Southern Illinois, I will seek prosecution and appropriate punishment.” said United States Attorney Wigginton.
This case was investigated by agents of the United States Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Illinois State Police, Medicaid Fraud Control Bureau, as part of the ongoing Project Dr. Feelgood investigations in the Southern District of Illinois. Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Quinley handled the prosecution.
Dawkins was under investigation beginning years ago (2009 if we’re remembering correctly); these things really drag through the system, which means Max Schauf (mayor of Bridgeport) might want to stop his false bravado going on about how he’s “going to get out of his charges.” The feds are thorough, as most people who’ve gotten on their bad side have come to learn.