Albany pharmacist who led U.S. in dispensing opioids pleads guilty to federal charges, pays $200K and faces 15-month term

Shearer Drug in July 2019 (Washington Post photo / Michael Williamson)

Albany pharmacist Kent Shearer, whose drug store dispensed more opioids than any other in the United States from 2006 through 2012, has pleaded guilty to three counts of illegal distribution of controlled substances, the U.S. Justice Department announced Jan. 28.

The U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky filed the charges in a criminal information on Jan. 10, but Shearer had been under investigation for years, after Clinton County Coroner Steve Talbott called police because of the number of drug overdoses he was seeing. Michael Cummings, a physician who had his office in the same building as Shearer is serving 30 months in prison on 13 counts of illegal prescribing.

Two charges said that between August 2011 and June 2014, and in 2015, the store dispensed hydrocodone "for patient J.Y., even though Shearer knew that the prescriptions were not written for a legitimate medical purpose. Shearer knew J.Y. was doctor shopping to obtain prescriptions for the same medications from multiple doctors, and because the . . . cough medicine . . . Dr. Michael Cummings prescribed to J.Y. had been prescribed for far longer than recommended in prescription guidelines." One of the charges said "Shearer filled prescriptions early on multiple occasions."

The other charge said that between August 2011 and April 2015, the store dispensed alprazolam, commonly known as Xanax, for the same patient though he "knew that the prescriptions were not written for a legitimate medical purpose. Shearer knew J.Y. was doctor shopping to obtain prescriptions for the same medications from multiple doctors, and because Shearer filled prescriptions early on multiple occasions."

Prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of 15 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and Shearer "has agreed to forfeit a $200,000 monetary judgment to the United States" on or before the sentencing date of May 14, 2020. He has sold his store, which is operating with a new name in a new location.