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Escambia Doctor, Two Family Members Charged With Running ‘Pill Mill’ From Medical Clinic
October 13, 2021
An Escambia County doctor, along with his wife and son, have been arrested for allegedly operating a pill mill, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Dr. William Wilson, 68, and Beverly Wilson, 66, were arrested Tuesday in Norfolk, Virginia, and James Wilson, 48, was arrested in Pensacola.
The investigation began in 2019, based on pharmacist and citizen complaints that Dr. Wilson and the Wilson Family Medical Center on University Parkway was operating as an unlicensed pain management clinic for financial gain and negligently prescribing dangerous narcotic combinations.
On September 11, 2019, agents executed the first of two search warrants and seized significant evidence. Dr. William Wilson also relinquished his DEA registration that allowed him to prescribe controlled substances. The investigation continued and evidence was analyzed. The analysis included file reviews by a certified expert physician with an expertise in interventional pain management, who found that all of the charts he reviewed revealed patients were prescribed controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose.
The investigation found that the Wilson Family Medical Center double-billed clients for cash and insurance, without clinical notes or exams, and clients routinely received controlled substance prescriptions without seeing Dr. Wilson.
Agents provided the expert physician the chart of an 18-year-old male who visited the clinic at least 10 times, receiving controlled substances each visit. There were no notes in his chart indicating the reason for the prescriptions. On April 26, 2018, he received a prescription for oxycodone and was found dead on April 27. The Medical Examiner determined the cause of death as oxycodone toxicity.
The investigation found that the Wilson Family Medical Center fraudulently billed Blue Cross Blue Shield for a total of $1,862,000 and received $500,000.
“As in all professions, the majority of physicians do the right thing,” said Chris Williams, FDLE Pensacola special agent in charge. “From time to time, a physician does not live out the Hippocratic Oath and FDLE appreciates the help of our law enforcement partners and members of our community in working together to stop them from hurting our citizens, and hold them accountable.”
William Wilson, Beverly Wilson and James Wilson were each charged with conspiracy to traffic in oxycodone (100 grams/30 kilograms), unlawful use of a two-way communications device, culpable negligence inflicting actual injury and scheme to defraud. The investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be forthcoming, according to FDLE.
James Wilson was booked into the Escambia County Jail Tuesday on $136,000 bond. William and Beverly Wilson are being held pending extradition at the Norfolk (Virginia) City Jail. The Office of the State Attorney, First Judicial Circuit, will prosecute the case.
FDLE agents, with the assistance of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, the Norfolk (Virginia) Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), made the arrests.
Comments
22 Responses to “Escambia Doctor, Two Family Members Charged With Running ‘Pill Mill’ From Medical Clinic”
I saw this doctor for years. I have a bad back and since then have had 8 surgeries. I needed the pills to keep working. I feel sorry for the doctor even though I know he was wrong. But that wife and son practiced medicine without a license. They handed out scripts when he wasn’t there. She would often over rule Doc wilson. I knew those two would ruin him. They also threw the patients records in the trash out side their office. I saw them. I’m sure that is where my record is. I left the practice because Beverly was over ruling Doctor Wilson and I screamed at her she wasn’t my doctor. That was it for me. I’m disabled now and in the pain management system. It sucks. They treat you like a drug seeking criminal. So because of scrap like this I suffer everyday. People like me need pain relief and now you can’t get it. The whole thing is sad.
These pill mills is what caused the problems for older people, injured people and disabled people. They can’t get help unless they had surgery. The politicians and who ever don’t get especially older people may still have to work and have old injuries that hold them back and aspirin or motrin won’t work. They are the ones who suffer and are forced to look for help elsewhere. I’ve seen older people suffer since this started. Whats sad is its legal to go to a methadone clinic and your hooked for life. The clinic is supposed to help addicts get off of drugs but it turns into a worse addiction. I know people because of my job who are only in their 40s and younger thats been on methadone for 20 years. They are given what I’ve seen 180 mg or 18 tablets a day they take all at once. Thats dangerous to me. Their original addiction might have been 100 mg of Lortab. Instead of going down on the dose they go up and up and up. This is a racket to make money just as bad as any pill mill, but its legal. I believe they should make them do their original purpose or shut them down. They shouldn’t be addicting more and more people who can’t get Lortab or hydrocodone for pain. Instead of 40mg a day they wind up taking over 100mg a day of a much more dangerous drug. You never hear of many people dying from an OD from methadone but it happens often.
I have a different take on this , of course drugs are illegal, and it’s so sad when people get addicted . But too, alcohol is also a drug and it’s legal . No judges want to get an alcoholic help, and even with the pandemic, bars and liquor stores remained open . Is this not greed too ? And it keeps the addiction alive and the alcohol pleased instead of going bonkers because of withdrawals . What people really need is a experience with God to get rid of the devil and his tactics . That’s the answer mostly . Please wake up and come away from the woke syndrome , only God can fix addictions .
#1 if you don’t take the meds like you’re supposed to yes you have a chance of passing…but you get so addicted to any of these pills like I did you go to taking more than you’re supposed to…you think more is better.thank God I woke up and got off them all but others not so lucky .people yes the pain is real but I promise it never goes away. And yes we all have a right to live pain free but with Doctors like this you can’t. Theres just no cure everywhere you turn but your best cure is NOT to take them at all…like I said let’s make and example out of them and let them have a talk with Ex Dr.Graves
Not condoning what they did But, adults went to this doctor knowing what they were doing.
No different than going to a local crack house and buying heroin except the quality of the drugs is known.
We really need a new plan for drug addicts. Because when legal paths are blocked they go to the streets and get what ever they can. And that leads to the worse type of addition, one where they are self medicating.
The money tax payers a burdened with are : legal fees, law enforcement, medical and housing issues from those addicted. So either we spend up front and slow the tide of dependence issues or we keep on this path and see more and more narcotics dumped on the streets.
And those that have real life long pain issues that now can not get a long term supply of the drugs they need because of some much abuse I feel for you as well.
There are some real break thru programs in some of the European countries were a doctor supplies the medications that a addict uses and in return they attend programs that get them off that and on to a path of getting clean.
The methadone clinic just keeps feeding the same problem with no real end. So that is not what I am talking about. The medications europeean docs give out is far cheaper than the street drugs and cuts that street dealer criminal element out of the game completely.
Yes I know dont do drugs is the best answer. But there are many paths people walk in life and sometimes its rocky and they lack the ability at that time to see a better tomorrow.
@Chris. First of all, it’s Lortab. Second of all, the young man passed from Oxycodone toxicity due to this doctor’s negligence. According to the drugs package insert a single dose greater than 40mg or a total daily dose greater than 80mg can be fatal to a person that’s not tolerant. We don’t know this young mans history so it’s mighty small of you to assume he had anything else in his system. Just because you have taken opioids for 20 years and can tolerate it doesn’t mean someone else can.
I’m a pharmacy technician and used to see his scripts all the time. I swear the only words he know are Norco, Percocet,and Xanax. It’s a shame it took this long and someone dying to put these people behind bars. Prayers for all people negatively impacted by these greedy people.
I went to this doctor 20 years ago. He would give scripts for any type of drug you wanted. His office was located on airport Blvd. The young man that lost his life is sad.
@ Chris-If you take them as prescribed they will help with pain, as they are supposed to.. However I’ve seen people take 6 at once and they are running a million miles an hour, and some it reduces to a drooling mess. That’s who I’m referring to. Those people have a pill problem and are abusing them. And many who went to Graves were in that shape but he kept writing scripts and he’s right where he needs to be. It is making it hard on people who legitimately need pain meds though. My doctor has signs up saying they won’t prescribe pain meds. I’ve had different people ask if I have any pain pills, and some I wouldn’t expect that from. It’s certainly a problem for some.
I’m sorry, people aren’t “staggering around the parking lot” because they are on Loritabs or Percocet (which is what Oxycodone is). I should know, I’ve been prescribed them for almost 20 years now. To those who feel sorry for the young boy who died, that’s good, you should. But like always, your probably not hearing the whole story for the media to push their agenda. Very hard to believe an 18 yr old kid died from Loritabs and only Loritabs. He more than likely had something else in his system that contributed to his death. Do you know how many you’d have to take to kill you? So many that it would look like suicide to anyone with a brain. It’s one thing to prescribe Fentanyl OxyContin, and be on the bandwagon against it, but Loritabs jeez Louise. Although nice touch putting the M.E. and C.O.D. without a secondary. It’s like he had a heart condition but it’s Oxy, you’ll never hear about the heart.
this is a shame. because of people like this. and politician’s that people that truly need pain pills for relief can’t get them. when my back spasms. I’m told to take ibuprofen. they will not prescribe Lortab or any pain killers.
@mnon- That Graves guy in Santa Rosa county had the same thing going on. There were people staggering around the parking lot because they were so strung out and still getting scripts. They were killing people. Maybe they can be cellmates for 25 years. And congrats on getting yourself clean- I’ve not had an issue but know people that have and they all say it’s a struggle but it’s worth the reward. Stay the course and protect your sobriety. Best of luck.
We might do well to research the Hippocratic oath and some changes that have been made. Seems not all doctors take the same form of that oath. Seems, it is also sworn to pagan deities. I am not an expert on this, but it is worth checking out.
GREAT JOB F.D.L.E !!!!! These People should of went down longggg time ago..yall can run but you can’t hide….sorry someone lost there life over this and they all should be charged….they need to be an example of to show these so called doctors its not ok to write people just for money… why does Jimmy even have a bond? None of them should even get a bond i call it murder with a pen…
It just dawned on me, I know tis doctor.. his lobby was like a cattle ramp. You’d wait 2-3+ hours to be seen. Sometimes you’d show up and there’s a “gone on vacation” sign on the door leaving dozens of people needing their pills sitting in the parking lot. They did not care about how it affected their clients nor would tell anyone ahead of time. James Wilson is a pill head too, I know this for facts. He wasn’t only writing Oxy Rx’s but also he was giving 30mg Adderall to people I know for a fact didn’t need them. Along with Xanax.
I’m even more happy knowing this guy is shut down and sad but happy because I know a few people who woke up this morning knowing their source is gone. Maybe now they will get help and/or quit.
Poison Peddlers – they provide the poison, then the users do the same thing by selling all or part of a prescription, and it goes on and on. The devastating effects are far reaching . Imagine how many more doctors are doing the same thing.
This is sad that a mother and father had to bury their child that was just starting life himself due to these drug dealers, that’s what they are drug dealers with a license. Theirs no telling how many have buried a family member due to these sorry SOB. Not knowing that’s where they got their pills from and just blamed their death on addiction. These pill mills are everywhere and need to be stopped for good. They need to throw the book at these creeps and let them see just a hand full of addicts that they have created, they always look down on the addicted but their is always a doctor behind their addiction.
I’ve been opiate free last month makes 4 years. I have been down this road, it is a long lonely scary road that when you look back on you realize wasn’t really that lonely. You just left everyone who loved you on this road like road kill. It doesn’t just affect you, it affects everyone around you. I struggled to quit, I was an addict for 5 years, quit, then started back up again just a year later. This last rounded lasted almost 8 long years. Quitting was the hardest most difficult thing I ever did, but I’m SO thankful for it. There comes a point the pills just don’t work. You still hurt through the pills, that is why you must take more or stronger forms. It only takes 4 days dosing three Lortabs a day to become addicted to them, did you know that?
It is doctors like this that ruins lives and should be sentenced like any other drug dealer on the street. I am always very happy to hear when a place like this shuts down, maybe it will make one of their patients rethink their life and just maybe this saved a few lives.
If you are addicted to opiates please please consider getting help. It is very hard, it takes a lot of willpower but in the end you can wake up everyday thinking how great the day is without taking opiates to feel that way.
If William won’t mind here is the number to the national opiate addiction hotline 1-800-662-HELP they can refer you to local sources to get help recovering.
It’s a crying shame that these types of greedy Dr’s ruin it for the people in legitimate pain. I’m glad they got caught, but this is why real pain suffering exists. The legal pain Dr’s look at everyone as an addict and don’t read the imaging in front of them and/or believe them. I had pretty major surgery and my surgeon even treated that as a problem and prescribed only one prescription, this resulted in lots of pain, from abusers of the system like these three!
This is very disturbing, you can’t even trust doctor’s anymore, they are no better than drug dealers on the streets, they are drug dealers with license to dispense the pills, they definitely need the book thrown at them, theirs no telling how many families have buried family members and how many have become addicted to pills due to these sorry creeps. They need to investigate all doctor’s offices and pain management facilities that dispense pain medication, their would be tons more caught up in this life altering disaster. Wake up, this epidemic is huge now and something needs to be done about these pill pushing pill mills…
Life sentences for all 3…. There’s no telling how many jobs were lost, marriages ruined, families broken over the prescriptions written by these 3. I lost my daughter through the acts of people just like these.
Innocent until proven guilty I know. That said, when the FDLE and the Feds grab you they generally already have all the I’s dotted and T’s crossed. If found guilty I hope they are dealt with harshly. There’s no room in society for people like this. Poison peddlers.