BaileyPark31
Love, Peace, Health, and Wealth
don't get caught up my fellow NPs/MdsThat money probably wasn't worth it.
By Jennifer Horton | May 29, 2019 at 6:21 PM CDT - Updated May 29 at 7:23 PM
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Former nurse practitioner Lillian Akwuba was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. A jury found Akwuba guilty of 23 counts, including drug distribution and health care fraud in 2018.
Akwuba worked for Dr. Gilberto Sanchez, who owned Family Practice in Montgomery. Sanchez was arrested in 2017 under the suspicion he was running a pill mill out of his office. More than a dozen defendants were indicted in the case, including Akwuba. After leaving Family Practice, she opened Mercy Medical where she continued habits of overprescribing powerful doses of narcotics for patients who didn’t have a medical need, according to evidence shared during her trial.
Akwuba tearfully pleaded for mercy, adding her family in Montgomery and overseas depends on her to live. She stated she was ashamed and remorseful of her actions.
“I vow you will never see me in your courtroom again,” said Akwuba.
Character witnesses highlighted Akwuba’s devotion to her spiritual life by starting a church and engaging in weekly outreach for the less fortunate.
Judge Sharon Blackburn painted a stark contrast, calling Akwuba a drug dealer that wrecked the lives of her patients and their families in order to turn a profit.
“You didn’t say one word to me today about the people you turned into addicts and the families you destroyed,” stated Blackburn. “What about all those people, I saw their medical records. The drugs you prescribed were astounding.”
Blackburn went on to say that she didn’t believe Akwuba understood the extent of her criminal conduct.
Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan Ross argued that Akwuba showed a complete and utter disrespect to her patients and the court by lying under oath during the trial, and disrespect to the doctors who tried to work with her and curb her prescribing habits.
“Akwuba stands alone in failing to acknowledge she was a drug dealer,” Ross stated.
Ross went on to say Akwuba was more culpable than Sanchez, asking for a sentence greater than what was imposed on Sanchez, who pleaded guilty to five counts of information and was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
The sentencing guidelines in this case carried a maximum sentence of life, which Blackburn didn’t feel was appropriate.
Akwuba was detained following the hearing, however Blackburn would allow her to be released on bond if Akwuba’s family could produce her passports. Currently Akwuba remains in detention.
Akwuba has 14 days to appeal.
Copyright 2019 WSFA 12 News. All rights reserved.
what a waste.
