Texarkana doctor sentenced to over 7 years in prison for overprescribing

A Texarkana doctor was sentenced Monday to 87 months in federal prison for overprescribing opioids and other controlled substances.

Dr. Lonnie Parker must also serve three years of supervised release for two counts of selling a controlled substance without a valid prescription. Parker, 59, was convicted by a federal court jury in October 2022.

Parker was also sentenced to one year in prison followed by one year of probation on two additional counts of trafficking in controlled substances, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Arkansas. The sentences will be served concurrently.

Agents launched an investigation into Parker in 2018 “after receiving complaints from local police about a suspected pill mill and the possible overdose death of a patient,” the press release said.

Investigators found that Parker had prescribed controlled substances in the Texarkana area “with unusual frequency and in unusually large quantities,” including opiates, benzodiazepines and promethazine with codeine cough syrup, the press release said.

During the two-year period under review, Parker prescribed approximately 1.2 million dosage units of opiates, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, to approximately 1,500 patients, or approximately 850 dosage units per patient, the press release said.

Parker also prescribed approximately 16 gallons of promethazine with codeine cough syrup to approximately 29 patients during the same period. These prescriptions included several combinations of narcotics and sedatives for patients at high risk for distraction.

Parker had denied the allegations.

“I have done nothing but provide quality medical care to my patients,” Parker told Arkansas Business in 2020.

Parker was sentenced by Judge Susan O. Hickey and faced up to 20 years in prison.