NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

APRIL 8, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OLATHE DOCTOR INDICTED FOR FRAUD,

DISTRIBUTING PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that an Olathe, Kan., physician has been indicted by a federal grand jury for health care fraud and for distributing prescription drugs.

            Wayne W. Williamson, 67, of Olathe, was charged in a 199-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City. The indictment replaces a three-count federal indictment returned on Oct. 20, 2009, and contains three new counts of witness tampering.

            The federal indictment alleges that Williamson, a licensed osteopathic physician, defrauded Medicare and Medicaid by submitting false claims for services that were not rendered or not documented. Williamson allegedly submitted claim forms to Medicare and Medicaid seeking payment for “home visits” for beneficiaries between July 15 and July 22, 2008.

            The indictment also alleges that Williamson participated in a conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone, Percocet and Xanax from March 28, 2006, to May 7, 2008. Williamson allegedly distributed drugs not for a legitimate medical purpose and not in the usual course of professional practice. According to the indictment, Williamson caused the drugs to be dispensed without, among other things, adequate verification of the patients’ identities or medical complaints, adequate and reliable medical history, performance of complete mental or physical examinations, establishment of true diagnosis, or maintaining complete medical records.

            In addition to the drug-trafficking conspiracy, Williamson, whose license to write prescriptions for scheduled drugs in the state of Missouri was suspended in March 2008, is charged with 194 counts of distributing Oxycodone during 2008. Williamson is also charged with three counts of witness tampering related to three witnesses involved in his original indictment. Williamson allegedly threatened or harassed these witness in an effort to prevent or dissuade them from testifying in this case.

            The superseding indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Williamson to forfeit to the government any property derived from the proceeds of the alleged offenses, including a sum of money equal to the proceeds obtained as a result of the health care fraud and the controlled substance offenses, the contents of his bank account and his license to practice medicine in Missouri.

            Phillips cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

            This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy Marcus and Cindi Woolery. It was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

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This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at

http://www.justice.gov../index.html