Two doctors accused of running pill mill

Two doctors have been accused of operating an illegal pill mill in Shawnee last year.

The state’s multicounty grand jury returned an indictment Thursday against Dr. Jeri Lynn Ellis, 56, and Dr. Dennis Lee Roberts, 64.

They are charged with unlawful distribution of a narcotic drug. The maximum punishment for the felony offense is life in prison and a $100,000 fine.

“The minority within a minority of doctors who misuse their prescribing authority are a threat to the lives of Oklahomans,” Attorney General Mike Hunter said after the indictment became public. “That is why my office remains dedicated to assisting local and federal law enforcement agencies through resources like the multicounty grand jury to put an end to these abusive practices.”

The two were physicians in 2017 at Ellis Family Practice in Shawnee. The clinic is now closed.

Undercover state narcotics agents “corroborated numerous complaints” against the doctors, the attorney general said.

Roberts in 2014 accepted a five-year ban on practicing pain management because of overprescribing complaints made about him to the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision. One woman in 2010 blamed him in a complaint for her son’s death.

The grand jury alleged Roberts and Ellis acted in concert, with Roberts evaluating the patients and preparing prescriptions for Ellis to sign.

Ellis admitted in an agreement reached with the medical board in January that she had signed prescriptions for patients she had never met.

The grand jury also indicted the owner of Big Dick’s Roadhouse in Yukon. Terry Lee Lahti, 57, is charged with engaging in commercial gambling, a felony.

Oklahoma City police vice officers reported finding a private gambling room inside the bar in December after getting an anonymous tip. Inside the room were eight slot machines.