Dr. Joel Smithers Convicted on 861 Drug Charges

Joel Smithers, a 36-year-old doctor from Martinsville, Virginia, was convicted on 861 federal counts of drug distribution after a nine-day trial in U.S. District Court in Abingdon. The jury returned a guilty verdict on one count of maintaining a premises for drug distribution, one count of possession with intent to distribute, and 859 counts of illegally prescribing Schedule II controlled substances, including oxycodone and oxymorphone.

The conviction includes a count of distribution resulting in death after evidence showed Smithers prescribed opioids to a West Virginia woman whose overdose was directly linked to his prescriptions. After seven hours of deliberation, the jury found Smithers guilty of flooding communities across Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio with highly addictive narcotics under the guise of medical practice.

“This defendant not only violated his Hippocratic Oath to his patients, but he perpetuated, on a massive scale, the vicious cycle of addiction, despair, and destruction,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen. “We have no higher priority than investigating drug-dealing physicians and other corrupt health-care practitioners and putting them in federal prison.”

Smithers opened his Martinsville clinic in August 2015 and immediately began prescribing controlled substances to every patient, resulting in more than 500,000 Schedule II drugs dispensed. He accepted no insurance, collecting over $700,000 in cash and credit card payments. Many patients traveled hundreds of miles one-way to obtain prescriptions, often showing signs of severe addiction.

“Dr. Smithers flooded Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio with his opioid prescriptions and hid behind his white doctor’s coat as a large scaled drug dealer,” said Jesse Fong, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Washington Division. “The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Tactical Diversion Squads will relentlessly investigate and arrest these drug dealers disguised as doctors.”

U.S. District Judge James P. Jones ordered Smithers taken into custody immediately. Sentencing is scheduled for August 16 at 10:00 a.m. in Abingdon. Smithers faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of life. He could also be fined more than $200 million. The investigation was led by the DEA’s Tactical Diversion Squad and HHS-OIG, with support from multiple local law enforcement agencies.