Alabama Doctors’ Pill Mill Convictions Mostly OK, 11th Cir. Says

Federal prosecutors produced enough evidence that two Alabama physicians were running a pill mill to support their convictions on all but one count, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Friday.

But their 20- and 21-year sentences should be revisited because the district court didn’t justify going above a six-year sentence, the panel said.

Xiulu Ruan and John Patrick Couch ran a pain management clinic, Physicians Pain Specialists of Alabama, and an attached pharmacy, C&R Pharmacy, according to the court. After the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided their businesses, they were charged with conspiracies involving racketeering, distributing controlled substances without a medical purpose, ...