Wayne County Dentist Sentenced for Health Care Fraud and Illegal Distribution of Controlled Substances

Walter L. Dawkins, D.M.D., 60, of Fairfield, Illinois, was sentenced today in federal court in Benton, Illinois, to one year and one day confinement in the Bureau of Prisons for health care program fraud against Medicaid and illegal distribution of the Schedule III controlled substance hydrocodone, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced. The offenses involved hundreds of hydrocodone prescriptions written outside the course of professional medical practice, some of which were billed to Illinois Medicaid. The court also imposed three years’ supervised release following imprisonment, a $900 fine, and restitution to the Illinois Medicaid program in the amount of $1,242.68.

“I will always maintain the position that it does not matter who you are or what you do. If you defraud the citizens of Southern Illinois, I will seek prosecution and appropriate punishment.” said United States Attorney Wigginton.

This case was investigated by agents of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the Illinois State Police, Medicaid Fraud Control Bureau, as part of the ongoing Project Dr. Feelgood investigations in the Southern District of Illinois. Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Quinley handled the prosecution.