Reno Doctor Pleads Guilty To Prescribing Oxycodone And Hydrocodone Not For A Legitimate Medical Purpose

RENO, Nev. – Dr. Eric Math, M.D., 51, of Reno, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute hydrocodone and oxycodone, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse for the FBI’s Las Vegas Division.

Dr. Math and seven other co-defendants were charged by a federal grand jury indictment unsealed on May 24, 2019, in connection with their involvement in conspiring to distribute hydrocodone and oxycodone in the Reno area between October 2018 and May 2019. According to court documents, Dr. Math would write prescriptions to his co-conspirators not for a legitimate medical purpose and not in the usual course of professional practice. The co-conspirators would then fill the prescriptions and give some of the pills to co-defendant Myron Motley for further sales. On several occasions, Dr. Math was paid in cash for writing the illegal prescriptions. He would sometimes also write prescriptions for himself and have a co-conspirator fill the prescription for him.

This case was the product of a joint investigation by the FBI; the Reno Police Department; Nevada Highway Patrol, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Welfare and Supportive Services; the Office of the Nevada Attorney General; the Carson City Sheriff’s Office; the Nevada Department of Corrections; the Nevada Gaming Control Board; the Sparks Police Department; the University of Nevada-Reno Police Department; and the IRS Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Walkingshaw.

Dr. Math is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Larry R. Hicks on June 1, 2020. Dr. Math faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison, up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

The defendants remaining in the case are:  Myron Motley, 55, of Richmond, California; Michael Kwoka, 56, of Fair Oaks, California; Michael Slater, 42, of Reno; Joseph Jeannette, 51, of Reno; Ivy Elliott, 35, of Reno; and Alesia Sampson, 56, of Grass Valley, California. They are scheduled to appear for a jury trial on May 12, 2020. The charges against them merely are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oxycodone and Hydrocodone are among the most common drugs involved in prescription opioid overdose deaths. Oxycodone and other Schedule II drugs have a high potential for abuse that can lead to addiction, overdose, and sometimes death.