A U.S. District Court Thursday sentenced two pharmacy dsitributors for involvement in a scheme to defraud health care benefit programs, including TRICARE, by dispensing, distributing, and marketing medications known as compounded medications.
Glenn Doyle Beach, 47, of Sumrall, Mississippi and Hope Thomley, 53, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett for conspiring to commit health care fraud and conspiring to commit money laundering and tax evasion.
Judge Starrett also sentenced Howard "Randy" Thomley, 61, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Special Agent in Charge Michelle Sutphin, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Mississippi.
Glenn Doyle Beach was sentenced to 156 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release; Hope Thomley was sentenced to 168 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release; and Randy Thomley was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Beach was ordered to pay a monetary judgment of $9,109,872 along with restitution in the amount of $185,407,641.75. Hope Thomley was ordered to pay a monetary judgement of $29,249,018.51 along with restitution in the amount of $189,200,787.75. Randy Thomley was ordered to pay a monetary judgement of $3,651,173.19, along with the restitution in the amount of $3,651,173.19.
Beach and Thomley were both owners of Advantage Pharmacy in Hattiesburg, and Thomley also owned and operated a compound prescription distributor for Advantage Pharmacy. Beach and Hope Thomley sold compunded medications, which ordinarily are specially combined or formulated to meet the individual needs of patients.
Advantage Pharmacy
Through Advantage Pharmacy, Beach formulated and mass-produced compounded medications without regard to the individual needs of patients, but instead in order to increase reimbursements paid by the health care benefit programs.
Hope Thomley had knowledge of Beach formulating the compounded prescriptions with the ultimate goal being to increase reimbursements. Hope Thomley benefited from that activity because her marketing company received nearly 50 percent of the reimbursements that Advantage Pharmacy obtained from compounded medications.
Hope Thomley also obtained prescribers' signatures on blank prescription forms and then filled out the forms in the names of her children and TRICARE beneficiaries that she and her husband, Randy Thomley, had recruited. From April 2012 through January 2016, health care benefit programs, including TRICARE, reimbursed Advantage Pharmacy and other pharmacies involved in the scheme at least $200 million.
Tax evasion case
Beach and Hope Thomley were also sentenced for their role in a money laundering and tax evasion scheme that was used to conceal the fraudulent proceeds of the compounded medications scheme and evade taxes.
Randy Thomley owned and operated a company called Advantage Marketing Professionals, which marketed medications for Advantage Pharmacy. He filled out pre-signed prescriptions for the TRICARE beneficiaries, knowing that prescribers had not examined the beneficiaries.
For each prescription submitted to Advantage Pharmacy for compounded medications, he received a percentage of revenue. He recruited TRICARE beneficiaries and paid them a percentage of the revenue for each prescription in order to induce the beneficiaries to accept millions of dollars of compounded medications.
