Tennessee nurse practitioner known as ‘Rock Doc’ gets 20 years for illegally prescribing opioids

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee nurse practitioner who called himself the “Rock Doc” has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegally prescribing thousands of doses of opioids including oxycodone and fentanyl in return for money and sex, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Jeffrey W. Young Jr., was sentenced Monday in federal court, about a year after he was convicted of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances out of a clinic in Jackson, Tennessee. There is no parole in the federal court system.

Young, 49, was among 60 people indicted in April 2019 for their roles in illegally prescribing and distributing pills containing opioids and other drugs. Authorities said the defendants included 53 medical professionals tied to some 350,000 prescriptions and 32 million pills.

Young, who dubbed himself as the “Rock Doc,” promoted his practice with the motto “work hard, play harder.” The indictment states he prescribed drugs that were highly addictive and at high risk of abuse as he tried to promote a “Rock Doc” reality TV pilot and podcast while obtaining sex and money for prescriptions.

Young maintained a party atmosphere at his clinic and illegally prescribed more than 100,000 doses of hydrocodone, oxycodone, and fentanyl, including to a pregnant woman, prosecutors said.

“The self-proclaimed ‘Rock Doc’ abused the power of the prescription pad to supply his small community with hundreds of thousands of doses of highly addictive prescription opioids to obtain money, notoriety, and sexual favors,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The defendant’s conduct endangered his patients and the community as a whole.”

Since March 2007, the Justice Department’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program has charged more than 5,400 defendants who have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $27 billion, officials said.