COVINGTON, Ky. -- Prosecutors in Kentucky say a doctor who conspired to unlawfully dispense more than 300,000 oxycodone tablets has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison.
Sundiata El-Amin, 69, was sentenced Thursday after being convicted of charges that include conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and 171 individual counts of distributing controlled substances in March.
"The sentence imposed reflects the seriousness of the offense," U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan Jr. said in a statement. "The Defendant’s unnecessary prescribing of oxycodone damaged our communities and helped fuel the opioid epidemic. Our Office will continue to prioritize prosecuting these important cases."
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Evidence shows El-Amin repeatedly issued improper prescriptions for high doses of oxycodone and regularly issued the prescriptions without examining patients. His office manager, Wendy Price, has also entered a guilty plea for her role in the offenses.
El-Amin ran a clinic in Grant County, which federal officials raided several years ago. He was indicted in December 2015.
El-Amin will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence and will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for 3 years. He was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $17,300.
