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Medina physician sentenced to 46 months in prison for prescribing 'unnecessary painkillers' including Oxycodone and Methadone

Gary Frantz, 69, has been sentenced to 46 months in prison and has received a $10,000 fine.
Credit: AP
FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2018, file photo, oxycodone pills are displayed in New York. Newly released federal data shows how drugmakers and distributors increased shipments of opioid painkillers across the U.S. as the nation’s addiction crisis accelerated from 2006 to 2012. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

MEDINA, Ohio — A 69-year-old former doctor from Medina was sentenced on Thursday to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine for the prescription of powerful painkillers without necessity. 

According to officials within the office of U.S. Attorney Bridget M. Brennan, Judge Benita Y. Pearson sentenced the Medina doctor for prescribing Oxycodone, Methadone, and Hydrocodone, all of which were considered "medically unnecessary and outside the usual course of professional practice to ten individuals."

Similarly, Christopher Fulk of Mansfield was sentenced to 30 months in prison in August 2020 for conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances, including the distribution of fentanyl and oxycodone.

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Frantz prescribed narcotics to "patients" at levels that were deemed dangerously high. Officials say that family members even reached out to Frantz with concerns about the excessive levels of narcotics being prescribed. 

The doctor also prescribed strong narcotics to patients who had a history of substance abuse. Fulk, a doctor based out of Mansfield, was prescribed narcotics from Frantz, who then distributed the controlled substances to "patients." Fulk sold thousands of oxycodone pills and hundreds of fentanyl patches that he received from Frantz. 

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