Former Bolivar physician pleads guilty to illegal drug distribution

A former Bolivar health clinic physician pleaded guilty yesterday to the illegal distribution of prescription drugs.

Nolan Crisp, 75, of Half Way, entered his guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Rush, admitting to a charge contained in a July 2012 federal indictment, according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

From June 2009 to Nov. 10, 2010, Crisp was employed at Pomme de Terre Wellness Center, an independent clinic affiliated with Citizens Memorial Healthcare.

In his guilty plea, Crisp admitted he wrote illegal prescriptions for OxyContin, oxycodone hydrochloride and oxycodone-aspirin for recipients who had no legitimate medical need for the drugs, including a girlfriend and clients he met in the clinic's parking lot, Dickinson said.

“His conduct was not only illegal, but as the federal investigation concluded, reckless, dangerous and life-threatening," Dickinson said in the release.

The federal investigation included overdose records attained from CMH, as well as Crisp's appointment schedule at the clinic, his Medicaid billing records, prescriptions written by him that were filled at six major pharmacies in Bolivar and information from the Polk County Coroner. During the more than a year period Crisp was employed at Pomme de Terre Wellness Center, there were 96 overdoses at CMH, 29 of which were connected to Crisp's care. During the same time period, six patients who died from overdose were connected to his care, according to the release.

Under federal statues, Crisp could face up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, as well as a fine of up to $1 million. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled following the presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tom Larson and Cindi Woolery and was investigated by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bolivar Police Department and the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.