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Press Release

Tennessee Doctor Pleads Guilty To Maintaining An Illegal Drug Premises

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. On September 13, 2021, Dr. David Newman, 61, of Maryville, Tenn. entered a guilty plea to maintaining his pain clinic as an illegal drug premises in the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Sentencing has been set for February 9, 2022, at 3:00 pm, before the Honorable Thomas Varlan, U.S. District Judge, in the United States District Court at Knoxville. Newman faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

According to court documents, Newman owned, operated, and was Medical Director of Tennessee Valley Pain Specialists (TVPS), a non-insurance, cash-equivalent pain clinic. Newman owned this clinic with Dr. Steven Mynatt. Newman continued to operate and serve as Medical Director of TVPS, despite knowing that Mynatt was prescribing opioids to patients outside professional practice and for no legitimate medical purpose. Newman and Mynatt were charged with drug-related offenses as part of the April 2019 Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strick Force Surge; Mynatt entered a guilty plea related to his distribution of controlled substances at TVPS in February 2020.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III for the Eastern District of Tennessee; Special Agent in Charge J. Todd Scott of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Special Agent in Charge Joseph Carrico of the FBI’s Knoxville Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Derrick Jackson of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG); and Special Agent in Charge Andy Corbitt of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) made the announcement.

The investigation was conducted by the DEA, FBI, HHS-OIG, and TBI.

Trial Attorney Louis Manzo, Assistant Chief Jillian Willis of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne-Marie Svolto of the Eastern District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid (ARPO) Strike Force. Since its inception in October 2018, the ARPO Strike Force, which operates in 10 districts, has charged more than 85 defendants who are collectively responsible for distributing more than 65 million pills.

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Contact

Rachelle Barnes
Public Affairs Officer
(865) 545-4167

Updated September 14, 2021

Topic
Prescription Drugs