Jones convicted of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, dispensing drugs not for a legitimate medical purpose

A former Williamsburg pharmacist spent her first night behind bars Thursday evening after a federal court jury in London convicted her of multiple offenses listed in 2018 U.S. District Court indictment.

A federal court jury convicted Kim Jones of multiple offenses Thursday.

The eight-day trial, which featured six days of testimony and two days of deliberations, culminated shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday in the conviction of Kim’s Hometown Pharmacy owner Kimberly Jones, 53, on seven of 37 charges listed in her indictment, and acquitted her on the remaining 30 charges.

Jurors found Jones guilty of two counts of unlawfully dispensing controlled substances to patients outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose. Specifically distributing 7.5 mg of Oxymorphone and 15 mg of Oxycodone on March 2, 2017, to a patient identified as L.M. in the indictment.

Jurors also convicted Jones on five counts of dispensing controlled substances to patients outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose in regards to Hydrocodone and Oxycodone.

On Oct. 31, 2014, July 10, 2017 and July 13, 2017, Jones dispensed Hydrocodone to three difference patients.

On March 23, 2015, and Sept. 23, 2016, Jones distributed Oxycodone to two different patients. All five of these counts involved different patients.

According to the evidence at trial, Jones repeatedly filled prescriptions for significant quantities of Oxycodone and other controlled substances from a variety of out-of-state doctors. The evidence also established that Jones dispensed controlled substances to certain patients who did not have prescriptions at the time Jones dispensed the drugs.

After her conviction, Jones was booked into the Laurel County Corrections Center at 5:51 p.m. The jail is the closest one to the federal courthouse in London that is certified to house federal prisoners.

U.S. District Judge Gregory VanTatenhove scheduled sentencing for June 22.

Jones could be sentenced to up to 20 years imprisonment, a fine of not more than $1 million, and supervised released of at least three years.

Acquitted

Jurors acquitted Jones on 28 counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, specifically Oxycodone and Oxymorpohone, to 11 different patients – at least nine of whom were listed in more than one count – between Feb. 13, 2014 and Jan. 30, 2018.

Jurors also acquitted Jones on a charge that accused her of opening and maintaining a place for the purpose of distributing controlled substances outside the scope of professional practice and not for legitimate medical purpose from January 2010 – January 2018.

In addition, jurors acquitted her of a charge of one count of healthcare fraud that alleged occurred between May 2014 and March 2018, she entered or caused her employees to enter information into her pharmacy’s dispensing systems indicating that refills for drugs had been dispensed, even though her pharmacy never physically dispended the drugs.

The indictment alleged that by doing so, Jones submitted, or caused to be submitted, claims for payment to Medicare and Medicaid for those supposedly refilled prescription drugs, even though those drugs were never dispensed to a patient.