08/21/2023
James Craig Bell, owner of Townsend’s Pharmacy, was sentenced to 24 months for conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He pleaded guilty to the charge in October 2022. Bell’s co-defendant and former employee, Melisha Oxendine West, was sentenced last month following her guilty plea to 24 months imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release in connection with the same scheme. Bell had trained West and other employees on how to bill health care benefit plans for drugs that were not authorized or dispensed. Bell also trained employees to falsely reauthorize a previously existing prescription from a licensed medical professional. Read a story from WBTW and a Department of Justice press release.