Santa Rosa Doctor Sentenced To Two-And-A-Half Years In Prison For Unlawfully Prescribing Controlled Substances

SAN FRANCISCO – Thomas Keller, formerly a pain management doctor in Santa Rosa, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for distributing Schedule II and IV controlled substances outside the scope of his professional practice and without a legitimate medical need, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Acting Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris, FBI San Francisco Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Special Agent in Charge Steven J. Ryan, and the California Department of Justice Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (DMFEA). The sentence was handed down by the Hon. Vince Chhabria, United States District Judge, after a jury found Keller was guilty of the crimes at trial in November 2022.

Keller, 75, was a Santa Rosa resident and a licensed physician who ran a pain management practice in Santa Rosa when he was indicted on September 27, 2018. At trial, the evidence demonstrated that Keller repeatedly prescribed the opioid oxycodone and other strong, addictive drugs to his patient, A.M., in dosages and combinations that far exceeded the usual course of professional practice and were for no legitimate medical need. A.M. was 17-years old and was struggling with mental health issues when she first came to Keller seeking help. Trial evidence established that these facts made the drugs that Keller prescribed more dangerous. On December 22, 2016, Keller prescribed high dosage levels of oxycodone to A.M., along with two other controlled substances, Carisoprodol (also known as Soma), and Diazepam (also known as Valium); the combination magnified the potential health risks for the patient. Further, evidence showed that on January 20, 2017, Keller distributed Diazepam to A.M., and on February 16, 2017, Keller distributed Oxycodone to A.M., again knowing the distribution of both was outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose. Keller also distributed Carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant often referred to as “Soma,” to A.M. on July 10, 2017. Approximately two weeks later, A.M. died of an overdose of Oxycodone and other drugs. 

On November 3, 2022, a jury convicted Keller on four counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). The jury was unable to reach a verdict on six additional counts. 

Court documents filed in connection with Keller’s sentencing describe the dangerousness of the drug combinations prescribed by the defendant as well as Keller’s understanding that the drug prescriptions were unsafe. For example, trial evidence established that the combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and Soma together – colloquially known as “the Holy Trinity” – is an extremely dangerous combination of drugs; nevertheless, Keller prescribed this combination of drugs to A.M repeatedly for more than two years. Further, the government argued that evidence submitted at trial – in the form of trainings that Keller had received and Keller’s own journal entries – demonstrated that Keller prescribed the drugs even though (1) he knew the dangerousness and addictiveness of opioids, (2) he knew medical professionals promulgated guidelines and recommendations that aim to decrease the amounts of opioids that clinicians prescribe, and (3) he knew that his prescriptions to A.M. were outside the normal course of medical practice.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Chhabria ordered a three-year term of supervised release upon release from prison. Judge Chhabria ordered the defendant to surrender on or before September 8, 2023, to begin serving his prison term.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristina Green and Ross E. Weingarten are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Pat Mahoney. This case was investigated and prosecuted by member agencies of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a focused multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force investigating and prosecuting the most significant drug trafficking organizations throughout the United States by leveraging the combined expertise of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. This prosecution is the result of investigations by the DEA, FBI, HHS-OIG, and the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse.