CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A former Wyoming and Arizona physician faces trial next April in a prescription drug conspiracy that prosecutors say included the overdose death of an Arizona woman.
KTWO-AM reports U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson on Friday set the April 2019 trial date for Shakeel Kahn and several co-defendants, including his wife. Johnson also granted Kahn permission to use money not related the prescription drug case to hire his own defense attorneys.
Kahn is charged with conspiracy to distribute, possess and dispense prescription opioids and conspiracy to distribute prescription drugs resulting in death. Prosecutors said customers paid Kahn $500 in cash for prescriptions for opioids and anti-anxiety medication.
Court records say Lake Havasu City resident Jessica Burch filled prescriptions of Oxycodone, Hydromorphone, Carisoprodol and Alprazolam signed by Kahn two days before her August 2015 death.
The Casper Star Tribune reports Kahn faces 66 counts in a criminal case where he is alleged to have sold anti-anxiety and pain-relieving drug prescriptions for cash and organized a criminal enterprise that operated in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Wyoming, Arizona, Washington and Oregon, according to prosecutors.
Two of the four drugs listed that Burch filled are opioid pain relievers, a muscle relaxant and an anti-anxiety drug. All four carry the risk of tolerance and addiction.
The Wyoming newspaper reported Kahn’s wife, Lyn Kahn, allegedly altered Burch’s medical records after learning of her death. In addition to Shakeel and Lyn Kahn, other defendants include Nabeel Khan, Christine Thacker and Paul Beland.
Lyn Kahn faces a total of 29 counts in the case, Nabeel Khan faces six counts, Thacker faces two counts and Beland faces 21 counts.
Hard to believe these professionals would be so greedy, not to mention altering records to cover a death. Long jail sentences in their future.