Slidell physician found guilty of illegally distributing over 1.8M doses of opioids

SLIDELL, La. ( WGNO ) — A Louisiana physician is facing a possible 30 years in prison after being convicted of health care fraud.

On Tuesday, July 23, 58-year-old Adrian Dexter Talbot was convicted for conspiring to illegally distribute several doses of controlled substances and defrauding health care benefits.

According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Talbot owned and operated Medex Clinical Consultants in Slidell, where people would seek prescriptions for controlled substances in exchange for cash payments.

Talbot reportedly ignored signs that the people paying for the substances were abusing the drugs. After taking a job in Pineville in 2015, it was noted that Talbot had pre-signed prescriptions for patients that he had not seen.

In 2016, court documents revealed Talbot had hired another practitioner who was directed to also pre-sign prescriptions for the Slidell clinic.

An investigation revealed that in an effort to cover up his actions, he falsified patient records. Getting the prescriptions filled also led to insurance companies such as Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross and Blue Sheild of Louisiana to be fraudulently billed.

Talbot was convicted on charges of:

• Conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances
• Four counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances
• One count of maintaining a drug-involved premises
• One count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud

Talbot faces a possible 10-year sentence for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and 20 years each for the other charges.

Sentencing is set for Oct. 23.

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