Hall operated Pinnacle Clinic

 

The doctor of an Ironton clinic that was shut down almost 18 months ago is facing a 12-count indictment following the action of this week’s Lawrence County grand jury.

Dr. Adam P. Hall, 40, of Powell, is being charged with aggravated trafficking in drugs, a second-degree felony; permitting drug abuse, a fifth-degree felony; illegal processing of drug abuse documents, a fourth-degree felony; and forgery, a fifth-degree felony.

The indictment is a result of a three-year investigation by the county prosecutor’s office, drug task force, sheriff’s office, Ironton Police Department, bureau of criminal investigations, state pharmacy board, state medical board, drug enforcement agency and the state attorney general’s office.

Hall was the physician at the former Pinnacle Wellness and Longevity Center at 407 S. Third St., Suite B, which was shut down by the state in March of 2013. Closing the clinic resulted from the execution of a search warrant following the investigation the previous year.

From the search warrant patient records and other information was seized. That led to the state medical board suspending Hall’s osteopathic medical license on April 1, 2013.

Among the reasons the board is considering a possible revocation of Hall’s license is one of the employees at the clinic is a convicted felon and a former physician whose license was suspended in 2008.

“Your office manager informed investigators Kevin Bowers independently examines patients and that Kevin Bowers issues prescriptions by using a signature stamp of your name and/or by filling out blank prescription slips you had pre-signed,” according to the notice of summary suspension. “Your office manager further stated that you worked at the Ironton location only three to four days each month and that you would routinely stamp and/or pre-sign blank prescription slips for office staff to subsequently complete at a later date in order to provide patients with drugs, including controlled substances.”

Hall was to face the board numerous times to present arguments on why he should get his license back. Each time Hall requested a change in the date of the hearing before the board.

It was because of “delays in a pending criminal matter that concerns many of the same allegations as the board’s notice of opportunity of hearing,” according to an entry by R. Gregory Porter, hearing examiner.

Hall is a 2000 graduate of the Des Moines University Osteopathic Medical Center.

According to Prosecuting Attorney Brigham Anderson’s office, the investigation is ongoing and a grand jury will hear additional evidence with the possibility of more charges filed.

Hall will be arraigned in common pleas court on Sept. 3, the same date he is scheduled to meet with the medical board in Columbus.