Horace Junior Davis, a 65-year-old doctor practicing in the Albion and Jackson areas, has been indicted on numerous charges by a grand jury from the United States District Court, Western District. The indictment was originally filed on March 9th, but was kept sealed under court order until June 3rd.
Davis is accused of Unlawfully distributing prescription opioids, Healthcare fraud, and also Conspiracy to commit fraud. According to investigators, Davis is accused of writing prescriptions for opioids for what is described as “illegitimate” medical purposes. In addition, he is said to have written far more prescriptions for opioids than was legal or necessary.
Investigators used data collected from the Michigan Automated Prescription System (MAPS). Davis wrote significantly more opioid prescriptions than any other doctor in the area, with his figures coming in at 18,381 prescriptions for controlled substances from May 2012 to May 2013. During that same window of time, other doctors in the area averaged between 2,000 to 6,000.
Davis preyed on his patient’s addictions to opioids
According to DEA Special Agent Thomas Burn, not only was Davis not licensed to prescribe opioids during the entirety of that period, but he would have to be writing more than 50 prescriptions a day for this number to be achieved. This, Burns says, is an indicator of the fact that Davis preyed on his patient’s addictions to opioids by providing them with endless prescriptions which ensured that they would always come back to him for more.
The indictment also states that Davis accepted “secondary favors” in the form of sexual favors and manual labor in return for opioid prescriptions. The manual labor is said to have been construction work that was completed on his office building. He was also said to have pre signed prescriptions that his employees would hand out in his absence from the office.
Davis is also accused billing health care programs at significantly increased rates that were much higher than for the services performed. The federal grand jury referred to this as “upcoding”, saying that Davis had billed for services like tests and procedures that he either never performed, or performed in an unreasonable amount of time. These upcoded bills are alleged to have happened 13 times between April 22, 2011 to Sept. 6, 2013.
According to the indictment, the federal charges are as follows: 14 counts of unlawful distribution of prescription drug controlled substances, 13 counts of health care fraud and a single count of conspiracy to use false documents to defraud a health benefit program. As of yet, Davis’ arraignment has not been scheduled, although federal arraignments often take place within 10 days of the federal indictment being unsealed according to our criminal defense team.
In addition to federal criminal prosecution, Davis also faces licensing sanctions by the state of Michigan. According to Attorney Charles Kronzek, our expert in professional licensing cases, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs will initiate an investigation, and possible license suspension or revocation of his medical license may follow.