Feds: Doctor who ran 'pill mill' to spend 20 years in prison in overdose death

A St. Clair Shores doctor who federal prosecutors said operated a "pill mill" and was convicted in a patient's overdose death was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

Bernard Shelton, 67, learned his fate Thursday before U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood in Detroit, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a release. A federal court jury convicted him of 21 charges in April 2023.

Prosecutors stated Shelton has not been allowed to prescribe controlled substances since 2017. He was indicted in October 2017.

"This defendant violated his oath to do no harm to his patients. He prescribed drugs without any medical justification in order to line his own pockets. His actions caused the death of at least one person and contributed to the deaths of two others," U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in her office's release. "This sentence won't bring back those patients who he harmed, but should serve as a warning to others of our resolve to aggressively prosecute physicians who choose to act as drug dealers and cause the death of patients."

Shelton's attorney, George Donnini, said Friday the judge on Thursday orally denied his motion for a new trial and acquittal on certain counts, including one that involved a death, which had a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Given the denial, Donnini said the best sentence he could request for his client was 240 months, or 20 years. Federal prosecutors requested 30 years.

"I was able to achieve for my client the best possible sentence for the circumstances, but it's an exceedingly long sentence at the same time," Donnini said, adding that Shelton's wife and five brothers and sisters attended the sentencing.

Donnini said he plans to file a notice of appeal within 14 days with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. He said Shelton is not a U.S. citizen, but is a dual citizen of Canada and Jamaica, and presumably will be removed from the U.S. at the end of his prison term.Shelton, who grew up in Jamaica, maintained his innocence, per Donnini's sentencing memorandum filed with the court, which included letters of support from Shelton's wife and other relatives and friends.

In their sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors called Shelton a "dangerous doctor whose criminal prescribing put over five million doses of addictive controlled substances on the street." They said he "directly killed Dennis Hoey by prescribing a fatal oxycodone prescription" and contributed to the drug overdose deaths of two others and the nonfatal drug overdose of another person.

Prosecutors wrote he "criminally prescribed potent and dangerous drugs to patients for long periods of time, ignoring multiple red flags and knowing his patients abused and misused their drugs. He continued feeding their addictions to make easy money. Dr. Shelton kept increasing their dosages to keep many addicted patients returning every month for years, so that he could keep billing. Without prescribing controlled substances, his private internal medicine practice would have collapsed."

Shelton was an internal medicine doctor in general practice and had no criminal history.

Prosecutors wrote he prescribed more than 5.5 million doses of controlled substances between April 2013 and December 2016. They stated he received more than $1.4 million from Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan during this time period.

They stated in their release that Shelton prescribed more than 2.7 million doses of Schedule II controlled substances, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, usually prescribing the types and strengths of drugs most valuable on the streetmarket.

In a July 23 response to the prosecutors' sentencing memorandum, Donnini wrote that while the government wants to paint a picture of greed, the $1.4 million amounts to about $400,000 a year — money that went to the practice for staff, facility costs, equipment and computer and billing services, not into Shelton's pocket.

Prosecutors stated that Shelton began prescribing opioid pain relievers in 2010 to a patient whose pain was previously treated by prescription-strength Motrin. He prescribed increasingly stronger controlled substances during the next six years, and the patient became addicted.

Shelton prescribed an increased dose of oxycodone to the 54-year-old in January 2016 without medical justification, they stated. The patient suffered an overdose two days later and survived, but a second oxycodone overdose four days later was fatal.

Prosecutors also stated that when an undercover patient complained of back stiffness and initially visited Shelton, the doctor didn’t examine the patient's back and asked: "What can I give you today?" before prescribing the requested narcotics, according to their release.

It stated Shelton issued 21 prescriptions to seven patients outside the usual course of professional practice for no legitimate medical reason, so he could charge for office visits and tests.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.

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