U.S. Department of Justice Jeffrey A. Taylor United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Judiciary Center 555 4th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 PRESS RELEASE   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   For Information, Contact Public Affairs Channing Phillips (202) 514-6933 December 21, 2006

Medical doctor pleads guilty to charges of health care fraud and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud

Washington, D.C. - Today, a medically trained doctor, David T. Hackney, pled guilty to health care fraud and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Patrick Doyle, Regional Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Chief Charles H. Ramsey, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Shawn A. Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Charles J. Willoughby, Inspector General of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of D.C. government, and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

Hackney, 43, of Temple Hills, Maryland, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge John D. Bates to a two-count Information charging health care fraud and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled. Dr. Hackney faces a possible sentence under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines of 6 - 12 months of incarceration.

According to the Statement of Offense signed by the defendant, Dr. Hackney was a licensed medical doctor in the District of Columbia, with a psychiatric practice. From 1992 to May 2005, the defendant worked at a facility seeing patients with psychiatric issues. While at the facility (which was a Medicaid provider), Dr. Hackney had access to the patients' names and Medicaid numbers, as well as other identifying information.

The defendant's DEA number expired on October 31, 2005. From August 2005 to May 2006, the defendant used names of Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries in order to obtain oxycodone from pharmacies which then charged Medicaid or Medicare for the prescriptions. Generally, when the defendant arrived at a pharmacy he would inquire as to the availability of a oxycodone product; typically, the defendant requested the higher strength tablets. The defendant would then write a prescription for a large number of tablets containing oxycodone; many times he would wait for the prescription to be filled, pick up the prescription, sign the pharmacy's log, and would then leave the pharmacy with the oxycodone.

The beneficiaries whose names were used by the defendant to obtain the oxycodone prescriptions did not in fact receive the oxycodone. The pharmacy billed Medicaid (and in one instance Medicare) for the prescriptions as they were under the false understanding that the beneficiaries would be receiving the medication.

In addition, the defendant wrote prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances without proper and current registration with DEA. Specifically, the defendant wrote multiple prescriptions for oxycodone, including many for Percocet, from November 1, 2005 to May 2006, all the while lacking a valid, current, DEA registration number.

In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Taylor, Special Agent in Charge Doyle, Chief Ramsey, Special Agent in Charge Johnson, Inspector General Willoughby, and Assistant Director in Charge Persichini commended Special Agent Tracy McFadden, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General, Detective Samuel Woodson of MPD, Special Agent Sandra Adams of Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Investigators Majorie Palmer-Nisby and Sandra White-Hope of DEA, and Special Agent Mark Dargis of the FBI. In addition, they commended Legal Assistant April Peeler and Assistant U.S. Attorney Virginia Cheatham.