Wise Attorney Sentenced on Felony Charges
Stuart Collins Will Serve 20 Months in Prison

ABINGDON, VA—An attorney from Wise, Virginia was sentenced this morning in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon on four felony drug charges.

Stuart Collins, 42, of Wise, Virginia, previously pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining controlled substances by fraud.

“This case is yet another example of the ways in which the scourge of prescription drug abuse affects people at all levels of society,” United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said today. “Mr. Collins' addiction led him to illegally obtain prescription medication and to obstruct justice when his crimes were discovered. The 20-month sentence handed down this morning reflects this office’s priority on the pill problem and on punishing obstruction wherever it occurs.”

Collins had previously admitted that on multiple occasions he received pharmaceutical drugs from a local doctor. Collins deliberately did not inform that doctor that he was receiving pharmaceutical drugs from another doctor. The United States asserted that Collins' tampering with witnesses was a basis for the sentence imposed today.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Bristol Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Virginia State Police, Southwest Regional Drug Task Force, Wise County Sheriff’s Office, and Wise Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Jennifer Bockhorst, Donald Wolthuis, and Randy Ramseyer prosecuted the case for the United States.