SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah doctor was barred from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances and ordered to pay $65,000 after he was accused of illegally issuing prescriptions to customers.
In a complaint filed in August, the government alleged that Dr. Sean Ponce illegally prescribed controlled substances in violation of the Controlled Substances Act.
Specifically, the complaint accused Ponce of catering to customer requests for controlled substances, using text messaging and cash transactions to arrange exchanges between himself and customers.
Ponce used his virtual office space in Cottonwood Heights to meet with customers as a front to exchange cash for prescriptions, the complaint alleged.
These "meetings" lacked legitimate examinations, medical findings supporting the appropriate use of prescriptions and genuine doctor-patient relations, officials explained in the original complaint.
A civil consent order entered by a federal judge ordered that Ponce pay $65,000 in civil penalties and permanently banned him from "administering, dispensing or distributing controlled substances and from managing or supervising other medical providers who work with or prescribe opioids or controlled substances," officials explained.
In addition, Ponce is not allowed to own a business or medical practice that handles opioids or controlled substances, the consent order states.
The attorney for Ponce said in an email to FOX 13 News that his client "consented to the entry of the order without admission or finding of fact, law, liability, or wrongdoing and only to avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience, and expense of protracted litigation."
