On or about August. 4, 2021, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office notified the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that providers at Southern Rapid Care were prescribing and dispensing controlled substances, specifically testosterone, “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.”
The tip triggered a visit by DEA agents to the SRC facility on June 7, 2022, to inspect records and audit the controlled substances maintained on site.
What they found, according to a lawsuit filed last week by the DEA against the healthcare provider, were incomplete records that failed to show the date and quantities of the reception of controlled substances.
Due to these missing and incomplete records, “DEA investigators were not able to complete an accountability audit of the controlled substances at SRC …”
Southern Rapid Care, both then and now, serves as the primary care provider for employees of the City of Orange Beach, where public employees have been embroiled in investigations into the distribution of steroids in the past.
France Beach fitness trainer Thomas “Danny” Williams was sentenced in 2015 for importing steroids from China and Ukraine and distributing them.
But an article from the Lagniappe Daily indicated authorities may have used Williams’ case as a probe into other Orange Beach officials, including Mayor Tony Kennon.
Williams served 12 months in federal prison for his crime, and went missing during Memorial Day weekend in 2022 after being last seen on a boating trip. Authorities found his body on May 29 washed up in Terry Cove. As of June 6, 2022, officials were still seeking information in the case which remained open despite no signs of foul play.
The lawsuit against SRC levies five federal counts against the healthcare provider: failure to maintain records separately, failure to document the amount received or date received, failure to maintain a biennial inventory, failure to maintain complete and accurate records or receipt and dispensation or other disposition of controlled substances, and failure to maintain records and inventories for two years.
The DEA is requesting judgments against defendants Paul Glisson, Sheila Stephens, Elizabeth Michon and Julie Murphy, jointly and severally, for civil penalties of $19,246 for each violation of the Controlled Substance Act.
In addition to testosterone, investigators say they found missing and incomplete records for clonazepam, diazepam, phentermine and zolpidem tartrate. The monthly inventories for these drugs and testosterone “did not contain the drug strength, dosage form, container size, or if the inventory was taken a the beginning or close of business.”
During the DEA visit to the clinic, SRC Director of Patient Care Services Mary Christy Jernigan told investigators that SRC maintains controlled substances on-site including “testosterone, phentermine, zolpidem, clonazepam, and gabapentin for dispensation to City of Orange Beach employees. Morphine and Ativan are maintained for urgent care patients.”
