Date: Sept. 17, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Louisville, KY — Yesterday, a Louisville anesthesiologist pled guilty to conspiring with others in his medical practice to issue pre-signed and unsigned prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances. U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge Karen Wingerd of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Cincinnati Field Office, Acting Special Agent in Charge Erek Davodwich of the DEA Louisville Field Division, Special Agent in Charge Michael E. Stansbury of the FBI Louisville Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Tamala Miles of the United States Department for Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Atlanta Regional Office, Regional Director L. Joe Rivers, Cincinnati Regional Office, United States Department of Labor EBSA, Special Agent in Charge Darrin K. Jones of the Defense Criminal Investigative Services, Southeast Field Office, Commissioner Phillip Burnett, Jr. of the Kentucky State Police, Acting Inspecting General Tricia Steward of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Office of Inspector General, Chief Paul Humphrey of the Louisville Metro Police Department and Director Juan Garrett of the Kentucky Department of Insurance made the announcement. According to court documents, Dr. Lawrence Peters pled guilty to an Information charging conspiracy to illegally use a Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) registration number issued to another. According to the plea agreement, Dr. Lawrence Peters knowingly and intentionally conspired with others in his medical practice to issue pre-signed and unsigned prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances and further directed his staff to fill the prescriptions at his physician’s owned pharmacy. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 12, 2014. The maximum penalty is 4 years in prison. The United States is recommending probation. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. This case was investigated by the IRS-CI, DEA, the FBI, the HHS, the DOL, the DCIS, the KSP, the Kentucky CHFS OIG, the LMPD and the Kentucky DOI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joe Ansari and Chris Tieke prosecuted the case. IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
