Lansdell Family Clinic trial continued to 2024
A 2024 trial date has been set after a continuance was issued for eight area healthcare providers and pharmacists charged following an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2021.
The federal case was set for trial in June of this year. However, a continuance was issued, and the trial date has been postponed to 2024. The five nurse practitioners and three pharmacists were arraigned in federal court in Texarkana last year on charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose.
A superseding indictment filed in April of 2022 added five defendants and allegations of healthcare fraud and wire fraud related to federal pandemic relief funds. Count one of the superseding indictments included allegations identical to those in the original indictment. The only defendant named in the superseding indictment in count one – which alleges conspiracy to distribute opioids – who is also accused of fraud is the lead defendant and owner of Lansdell Family Clinics, Tawnya Lee Lansdell. Defendants added in counts two through five, which allege fraud, include Tawnya Lansdell’s husband, Michael Lansdell; her brother, Rusty Lynn Griffin; and her nephew, Michael “Mick” Wallace Martin.
Lansdell Family Clinic PLLC and Lansdell Farms LLC are also charged in the superseding indictment in counts alleging fraud. The individuals charged in the DEA investigation include Tawnya Lee Lansdell, Claire Terece Russell, Wendy Wynette Gammon, Shelly Rae Eastridge, Bonita Louis Martin, Candace Micheele Whitely, Gina Robinson and Stephen Haden Sullivan.
Federal prosecutors claim the eight defendants “knowingly and intentionally conspired to possess with intent to distribute Schedule II controlled substances, hydrocodone and oxycodone, and other Schedule II, III and IV controlled substances, without an effective prescription.”
The dates these offenses are alleged to have occurred range from January 2019 to May in 2021 at Lansdell Family Clinics and partnering pharmacies in De Queen, Dierks, Lockesburg and Texarkana. That investigation came to light in May of 2021 after the DEA received information from the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office over the potential illegal distribution of opioids at these locations. DEA agents raided several area Lansdell Family Clinic locations as well as Pruett’s Pharmacy. No arrests were made at the time, but agents seized computers, documents and other items related to the investigation.
Prosecutors are seeking prison time in addition to asset forfeiture of property obtained as a result of the alleged drug trafficking and wire fraud.
