The former CEO and emergency room director of Union General Hospital, along with a Blairsville doctor, have been indicted for illegally prescribing and obtaining thousands of doses of prescription pain medications.
The indictments against John Michael Gowder, 60, Dr. David Gowder, 61, and Dr. James Heaton, 61, were announced Friday by U.S. Attorney BJay Pak. All three men are from Blairsville.
"These defendants allegedly abused their positions as medical professionals to obtain illegitimately thousands of doses of prescription pain medications and now face serious federal charges,” said Pak in a press statement. “The Department of Justice is committed to fighting the opioid epidemic through the aggressive investigation and prosecution of licensed medical practitioners who abuse their positions of trust to engage in illegal conduct.”
The three are set to appear in federal court in Gainesville for arraignment on Monday, April 9.
Information from the indictment said from 2011 to 2015 John Michael "Mike" Gowder was the CEO of Union General Hospital; Dr. David Gowder was the emergency room director at the same facility; and Heaton operated a family practice clinic in Blairsville.
The indictment said Mike Gowder and David Gowder allegedly conspired to illegally obtain oxycodone, hydrocodone and alprazolam. Prosecutors said David Gowder unlawfully obtained the controlled substances from patients that he treated at the hospital. He also illegally issued prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone and alprazolam in the names of his and Mike Gowder’s family members, existing hospital patients and fictitious patients.
In addition, David Gowder would direct Union General Hospital employees to fill the prescriptions at local pharmacies, officials said, providing cash to the employees to pay for the drugs and directing them to return the drugs they obtained to him.
Mike Gowder, prosecutors say, used his position to fire hospital employees who tried to expose David Gowder’s illegal prescribing and obtaining of the drugs. He also used his position to intimidate other employees into concealing David Gowder’s unlawful acquisition of controlled substances, according to the indictment.
The document said between April 2013 and April 2015, David Gowder issued at least 19 illegal prescriptions for oxycodone pills, 21 illegal prescriptions for hydrocodone pills and five illegal prescriptions for alprazolam pills, including by forging the names of other physicians.
Heaton illegally prescribed oxycodone and other controlled substances to Mike Gowder, his family members, and others, according to the indictment.
Also, Mike Gowder obtained oxycodone by filling the illegal prescriptions that Heaton issued for oxycodone at different pharmacies in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina in an effort to conceal the large numbers of oxycodone pills that Heaton was prescribing to him.
