CAMBRIDGE, Ohio -- Federal agents and local law enforcement converged on a pair of doctor's offices in Ohio and West Virginia on Tuesday, both of which share the affiliation of a common practitioner.
William Ihlenfeld, U.S. Attorney of West Virginia's Northern District, told AVC News that special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration raided Advanced Healthcare, Inc. in Weirton, W.Va., on Tuesday morning, at the same time as DEA agents converged upon the Cambridge, Ohio office of Dr. George "Jeep" Naum III. In both instances, agents escorted employees out of the building for several hours in order to seize evidence in what Ihlenfeld described as "an ongoing federal investigation."
Records of the West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine could only confirm that Dr. Naum was affiliated with Advanced Healthcare, a self-described drug treatment facility in Weirton, in the recent past. Advanced Healthcare did not return calls for comment on Friday.
No one was arrested on Tuesday, and Ihlenfeld would not elaborate on the focus or scope of the investigation, nor would he name any suspects in the case, pending the filing of formal charges.
Public records from both Ohio and West Virginia indicate Dr. Naum has been subject to scrutiny for his prescribing practices, in the past. Following the raid on Dr. Naum's Cambridge office on Tuesday, an AVC News investigation uncovered that the doctor has previously been the subject of unprofessional conduct investigations by the State Medical Board of Ohio in 2009 and the West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine (WVBOM) in 2010. In both cases, Dr. Naum was investigated for "unethical conduct" that included "excessively/inappropriately prescribing" narcotics, sleep aids, anti-anxiety medications and antibiotics, as well as failure to properly document prescriptions, controlled substance agreements and other medical records. In the WVBOM's case, officials named Dr. Naum's prescribing practices as "contributing causes in the death of two patients."
Important to note: the State Medical Board of Ohio determined in 2010 that it would be "administratively inefficient" to pursue revocation hearings. Diana Shepherd, WVBOM's Executive Director, told AVC News on Friday that the Board rescinded its revocation order only after Dr. Naum voluntarily underwent a "program to increase the safety of his prescribing practices and to learn more about drug interactions and appropriate medical responses to patient conditions."
Dr. Naum has been employed by Superior Med of Cambridge since July 2014. Superior Med - the sister company of Southeastern Med - issued a statement saying that the company is aware of the DEA raid that occurred Tuesday and has offered its full cooperation in the investigation.
AVC News will bring you more information on this developing story, as it becomes available.