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Press Release

Scioto County doctor sentenced to 7 years in prison for role in pill mill

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio

CINCINNATI – The owner and physician at Unique Pain Management in Wheelersburg, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to serve 84 months in prison.

 

Margaret Temponeras, 55, of Portsmouth, Ohio, was sentenced for conspiring to distribute a controlled substance through the pain clinic and dispensary.

 

According to court documents, from June 2005 until May 2011, Temponeras and her father – John Temponeras, 84, who was also a doctor at the clinic – saw more than 20 patients per day, who paid cash payments starting at $200 for each medical examination. Many patients received monthly prescriptions for similar combinations of medications, namely, 120-150 pills of 15mg Oxycodone, 120-150 pills of 30mg Oxycodone and 90 pills of 2mg Xanax.

 

Patients were referred to Raymond Fankell, 64, of Wheelersburg, Ohio, who owned Prime Pharmacy, to fill their prescriptions.

 

Temponeras became aware that some pharmacies in the Scioto County area had declined to accept or fill her prescriptions from Unique Pain Management so she opened the dispensary Unique Relief LLC from the same location as her clinic in order to fill her own prescriptions.

 

John Temponeras and Fankell have also pleaded guilty. John Temponeras pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute controlled substances and and Fankell to conspiring to distribute Oxycodone. They have yet to be sentenced.

 

David M. DeVillers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Keith Martin, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Joseph M. Deters, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; and Steven W. Schierholt, Executive Director, Ohio State Board of Pharmacy, announced the sentence imposed yesterday afternoon by U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black. Assistant United States Attorneys Timothy D. Oakley and Timothy S. Mangan are representing the United States in this case.

 

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Updated November 13, 2019

Topics
Opioids
Prescription Drugs