An Arlington physician has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for fraud and drug crimes, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham.
In July 2021, a federal jury convicted physician Clinton Battle, 69, of one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and one count of distribution of a controlled substance. In a separate proceeding later that month, the defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. He was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, who also ordered him to pay $376,368 in restitution.
According to evidence presented at trial, Dr. Battle routinely issued prescriptions for controlled substances – including hydrocodone, alprazolam, acetaminophen with codeine, tramadol, and phentermine – outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose. At times, he issued prescriptions for controlled substances without conducting any medical examination at all, sometimes telling office staff to issue prescriptions for whichever controlled substance the patient wanted. He also issued prescriptions for friends or family members with whom he had no physician-patient relationship.
At trial, one of Dr. Battle’s former employees testified that she, her husband, and Dr. Battle agreed that Dr. Battle would provide the employee’s husband with illegal controlled substance prescriptions in exchange for cocaine.
In addition to cocaine, the evidence also showed that Dr....
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