A former Barren county dentist is headed to prison for illegally obtaining prescription drugs for his personal use. Dr. Chris Steward was sentenced Monday in federal court in Bowling Green.
U.S. District Judge Greg Stivers handed Steward an 18-month prison term. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Kentucky, Steward was charged with obtaining controlled substances by fraud, for knowingly and intentionally distributing and dispensing controlled substances outside the course of professional medical practice, and health care fraud while he was a practicing physician.
Prosecutors say the former Cave City dentist and nurse practitioner pleaded guilty to conspiring with patients to obtain pain and anti-anxiety drugs. The scheme involved Steward writing prescriptions in patients’ names and instructing the patients to fill the prescriptions, which would them be given to him. The scheme took place over a four-month period in 2015.
Steward also admitted to defrauding the state’s Medicaid system by writing fake prescriptions paid for by the program.
