CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Two Clarksville doctors have been charged in federal court in Kentucky with involvement in the illegal distribution of opioids across the state line, and one has pleaded guilty.
The two, Dr. James Maccarone and Dr. John Stanton, prescribed at least 46,060 pills illegally from July 2016 to about March 2021 that contained controlled substances, according to allegations in court records obtained by Clarksville Now.
Pill partnership
Maccarone, who owned and operated pain management clinic Gateway Medical Associates at 751 Chesapeake Lane in Clarksville, pleaded guilty on Jan. 24 to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances, the court records said.
Stanton has pleaded not guilty. He served as medical director at Maccarone’s clinic from July 2016 to late 2020, Maccarone’s plea agreement said.
As of Feb. 21, Maccarone’s clinic was shuttered, with a sign on the door reading, “Please notice this clinic is closed. You are welcome to come to The Joint and Spine Pain Center, 980 Professional Park Blvd., Suite C, (931) 919-3813, if you live within 100 miles of the clinic.”
According to the clinic’s website, Stanton managed The Joint and Spine Pain Center, which has two locations in Clarksville. When Clarksville Now reached out to both clinics via phone, no one answered.
The first indictment, which was filed in the London, Kentucky, federal court in March 2021, charged Maccarone and two other individuals from Kentucky with conspiring to distribute controlled narcotics in the areas of Knox and Clay counties in eastern Kentucky.
Both of the other individuals also pleaded guilty. Stanton was included on the indictment filed in July 2021.
‘Dangerous quantities’
According to court records, Maccarone and Stanton repeatedly failed to adhere to professional standards for prescribing controlled substances for the treatment of chronic pain. This included writing narcotics prescriptions for several patients who “exhibited obvious signs of drug diversion and abuse,” the court records said.
They also prescribed multiple opioids and other controlled substances in dangerous quantities and combinations, the records continued.
Some of the patients who were prescribed opioids for chronic pain would travel eight hours round-trip from southern and eastern Kentucky, sometimes in groups, the records allege.
The records said these patients would sometimes wait 10 or more hours to be seen at the clinic, and office visits were conducted late in the evening, or sometimes even into the early morning.
Patients would pay for their care at Maccarone’s clinic with prepaid credit cards at about $400 per visit, and they were allowed to miss required pill counts and instead pay a “no-show fee,” according to the court records.
The patients also understood that if they paid the high cash fees the clinic required, Maccarone and Stanton would prescribed them the narcotics, which could be abused or sold for profit, the records continued.
Also in the plea deal, Maccarone agreed to forfeit over $200,000 in funds from three bank accounts, along with an additional $1.3 million in a judgment – all of which the courts allege were profits from the illegal prescription of narcotics.
Maccarone has also agreed to forfeit the property on Chesapeake Lane where his medical practice was housed, along with his medical license.
As a result of the indictment, Stanton’s ability to prescribe schedule II controlled substances was suspended in Tennessee and Kentucky. He still has a medical license in both states.
Clarksville Now has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Maccarone’s attorney, Jim Todd of Nashville, did not return requests for comment.
Correction: A former version of this article said Stanton’s medical license had been revoked. He still has a medical license, but his ability to prescribe schedule II narcotics has been temporarily suspended in Tennessee and Kentucky. This article has been corrected.