By Associated Press - Saturday, February 15, 2014

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) - A southwestern Illinois doctor will be sentenced in April after he admitted defrauding the state’s Medicaid program and illegally dispensing prescription medications.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (https://bit.ly/1eBni2J ) reports 68-year-old Viwathna Bhuthimethee of Alton pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to one count of health care fraud and 14 counts of illegal distribution of a controlled substance.

Authorities say Bhuthimethee ran an Alton walk-in clinic with his wife. He was indicted in 2012.



Investigators accused him of operating a “pill mill” in which he prescribed more than 2,000 painkiller or anti-anxiety pills to four women from 2008 through 2010 outside the course of his professional practice.

He’s set to be sentenced April 3.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, https://www.stltoday.com

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