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Arraignment Set For Pain Clinic Owner
By: Associated Press
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An owner of three medical clinics who has been charged with illegal drug distribution gets his first chance to respond to the charges at a court appearance Tuesday afternoon in Cincinnati.
An indictment announced by federal prosecutors last week alleges Tracy Bias, 47, of West Portsmouth oversaw six doctors who wrote illegal prescriptions and also opened unlicensed dispensaries after legitimate pharmacists refused to fill prescriptions.
The indictment alleges that dozens of customers a week would travel hundreds of miles to visit the clinics in southern and central Ohio and pay $200 per visit for painkillers.
The indictment says prescriptions were written without meaningful physical exams and contributed to the deaths of at least two patients.
Tuesday's detention hearing and arraignment was scheduled for Bias before Magistrate Judge Candace Smith.