TEXARKANA, Ark–A doctor who was convicted in 2022 by a federal court jury of excessively prescribing addictive drugs to turn a profit was recently sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison.
Lonnie Joseph Parker, 60, was found guilty of four counts of distribution of a controlled substance without an effective prescription in October 2022. Two of the counts involved the highly addictive painkiller oxycodone and the other two counts involved codeine cough syrup, which is also widely abused.
He was sentenced in late August to 87 months in federal prison for count one and 12 months each for counts two, three and four, court records show. All of the terms were ordered by U.S. District Judge Susan O. Hickey to run concurrently.
“Parker’s occupation as a physician places him in a unique category of offenders who have an obligation to act according to ethical and moral obligations due to licensure or a specialized skill,” a sentencing memo from the government said. “As a physician, Parker held a position of trust in the community. He was licensed by the Arkansas Medical Board and the Drug Enforcement Administration to issue prescriptions for controlled substances, including opioid medications. As a physician, Parker had an inherent duty to ‘do no harm.’”
While the jury declined to find Parker directly responsible for the death of the patient, the government focused on Parker’s abuse of the trust put in him by the medical system and the public in seeking a lengthy prison sentence.
“However, Parker abused this position of trust by using his prescriptive authority for personal gain, rather than for the benefit of patients,” the memo said. “In doing so, Parker used his position of trust to facilitate the crime for which he was found guilty, distribution of a controlled substance outside the usual course of professional practice and without legitimate purpose.”
Following his release from federal prison, Parker will be supervised by federal officials for three years and could face additional time behind bars if he violates the conditions of his supervised release.
Judge Hickey ordered that Parker report Oct. 9 to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his time. Court records show that Parker filed notice this month that he is fighting his conviction and sentence in the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. His first brief is due Oct. 30.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anne Gardner and Graham Jones represented the government at sentencing. Parker was represented by Ronald W. Chapman II.
