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WeHo Clinic Doc Arrested on Charges He Runs a 'Pill Mill'
Photo by Amanda M. Hatfield/Flickr
A West Hollywood clinic's doctor has been arrested on charges he wrote "thousands of prescriptions for highly addictive drugs for 'patients' he did not examine and who simply paid cash for the prescriptions," according to the Department of Justice. 37-year-old Dr. Nathan Kuemmerle was taken into custody yesterday by the DEA and the Redondo Beach PD after an investigation into his medical practice indicated he runs what one professional calls a "quintessential 'pill mill.'"
Kuemmerle was found to offer scrips for drugs like Adderall and Xanax after just a few minutes with the recipient, and often put the cash payments in his own pockets.
A study of his records show that "[f]rom the beginning of 2006 through late November 2009, Kuemmerle wrote 14,529 prescriptions for a variety of controlled substances, meaning that he averaged 15 prescriptions during his normal five-hour workday."
Police began to look into Kuemmerle last August when they arrested someone for posting ads on Craigslist to sell Adderall; the arrestee claimed Kuemmerle urged him to sell the Adderall online in order to pay for a more expensive drug, Subutex, for which the doctor also provided a prescription.
Authorities also arrested the clinic's office manager, Antoine Phillips, who "sometimes initially discussed with the “patients” what drugs they wanted," and "often prepared prescriptions for Kuemmerle’s signature." Both will appear today in United States District Court in Los Angeles.
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