Pill Mill Doc From Delco Gets 3-Year Prison Sentence

GLEN MILLS, PA — A Delaware County doctor who was indicted in a national healthcare fraud takedown was hit with a prison sentence Tuesday.

Federal authorities said Timothy F. Shawl, M.D., 62, of Garnet Valley, was sentenced to 3 years in prison, and 2 years of supervised release for his unlawful distribution of controlled substances in connection with his medical practice based in Philadelphia.

In January 2020, Shawl pleaded guilty to five counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances, admitting that he wrote prescriptions for controlled substances that were outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.

He was charged by indictment in September 2019 as part of a nationally coordinated healthcare fraud enforcement action across seven federal districts, involving more than $800 million in loss and more than 3.25 million opioid pills distributed in "pill mill" clinics.

Specifically, Shawl wrote prescriptions, usually for oxycodone, for certain patients without seeing, treating or examining them; generally, certain patients just picked up an envelope with their prescription from the receptionist at Shawl’s office.

Shawl prescribed hundreds of oxycodone prescriptions to about 16 patients, amounting to more than 29,000 oxycodone tablets.

For one patient, he had not conducted a physical examination in at least five years, despite regularly prescribing controlled substances. That patient died on Jan. 7, 2019, just three days after Shawl last prescribed oxycodone for her, and the cause of death was drug intoxication.

“This sentence should serve as a warning to any medical professional engaged in this type of illegal behavior,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Williams. “As a physician, Shawl was well aware of the inherently dangerous nature of the drugs he cavalierly prescribed, sometimes to vulnerable people struggling with addiction, and he did so despite taking an oath to do no harm. He is no better than a street-level drug dealer; in fact, in some ways he is far worse.”