Jared Grant Riddle, a 47-year-old licensed pharmacist from Clinton, Tennessee, was sentenced to 33 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his central role in a multimillion-dollar prescription fraud scheme involving pharmacies he operated in East Tennessee.

As the owner and pharmacist behind United Apothecary, LLC, which ran six retail pharmacies doing business as Riddle Drugs or Riddle Express Pharmacy (with locations in counties including Cumberland, Roane, and Anderson), Riddle created a targeted formulary listing medications chosen specifically for their high reimbursement values. He collaborated with co-defendant Brian Woods, who marketed this list to local pain clinics and primary care facilities. Woods worked with Barbara Smith, an office manager at a Knoxville-area clinic, providing blank forms and paying her cash for signed documents.

The group then altered signed lists by adding un-prescribed medications and extra refills, and created entirely forged forms with patient names, medications, refills, and fake provider signatures. These fraudulent prescriptions were submitted to drug plans and pharmacy benefit managers from May 2018 through October 2020, resulting in improper payments totaling approximately $7.365 million, including about $4.8 million from Medicare Part D. Riddle was ordered to pay $8,687,531.89 in restitution. All three defendants—Riddle, Woods, and Smith—pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.