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Doctor Receives 11-Month Term

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 4, 2008

TAMPA - A Michigan doctor who admitted he was paid to write more than 12,000 illicit prescriptions for more than 40,000 doses of the drug phentermine has been sentenced to 11 months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Jose Mercado Francis, 54, who is licensed in Puerto Rico and Michigan, also must serve three years of supervised release.

Francis pleaded guilty this year to conspiracy to distribute phentermine and money-laundering, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

The maximum penalty for the charges is 23 years in prison and a fine of $750,000. The prosecution agreed to recommend a lesser sentence in exchange for Francis' guilty plea.

Francis agreed to forfeit his medical license and his Drug Enforcement Administration registration number as well as more than $37,000 he earned through the scheme.

Francis was hired by a corporation that operated an Internet Web site to prescribe drugs, including phentermine, which chemically is similar to amphetamine and is widely sold on the Internet as a weight-loss drug. According to court documents, the drug is a Schedule IV controlled substance that requires a doctor-patient relationship for prescriptions to be written.

Under the contract, Francis was to be paid a consultation fee of $3 for every prescription drug order placed through the Web site, according to Francis' plea agreement. Florida pharmacies downloaded the prescriptions approved by Francis and shipped the drugs to customers throughout the United States, according to the plea agreement, which does not identify the corporation, Web site or pharmacies.

Francis told an investigator he knew phentermine required a doctor-patient relationship and that he never saw or talked to any of the people listed on the Internet prescriptions and never kept medical records on them.

From October 2004 through July 2005, Francis' bank account received more than $37,000 from the corporation involved, the plea agreement states.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.

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