Federal jury finds Pembroke doctor guilty of illegally prescribing Oxycodone

RALEIGH — A federal jury today found a Pembroke doctor guilty of illegally dispensing a narcotic pain medication, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

After a four-day trial, the jury convicted Donovan Dave Dixon, 51, of Fayetteville, on 20 counts of unlawful distribution of Oxycodone outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose and one count of  conspiring to unlawfully distribute Oxycodone.

Sentencing is scheduled during the week of July 23, the release said.

Evidence presented during the trial showed that from 2012 until April 6, 2015, Dixon was a licensed medical doctor with a family practice in Pembroke.

Dixon drew the attention of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's Tactical Diversion Squad in Charlotte when members noticed that four of the top 10 oxycodone-prescribing pharmacies in North Carolina were located in the Lumberton area, the release said.

Local pharmacists along with state and local law enforcement "identified Dixon as the likely cause."

Davis was prescribing high-strength and large dosage amounts of the narcotic painkiller with little or no examinations of patients, the release said.

"Multiple witnesses testified that they had never even met Dixon despite the fact that hundreds of prescriptions had been issued in their name," the release said.

A witness described as "a local drug dealer" told jurors that Dixon wrote prescriptions in the names of people he he provided in exchange for cash. The "dealer" then sold the Oxycodone pills on the street.

The Robeson County Sheriff's Office and the Fayetteville Police Department assisted in the investigation.

Staff writer Nancy McCleary can be reached at nmccleary@fayobserver.com or 486-3568.