Doctor Prescribed Millions Of Unnecessary Opioids: Feds

ST. CLAIR SHORES — A St. Clair Shores doctor is accused of prescribing more than four million unneeded doses of oxycodone, methadone, and hydrocodone between 2013 and 2016. Dr. Bernard Shelton was indicted last week in federal court on 21 counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances, according to multiple media reports.

Shelton, 60, appeared in Detroit U.S. District Court Tuesday and was released on a $10,000 bond, the Detroit News reported. If convicted, the Harrison Township resident would face a minimum of 10 years in a federal prison.

The charges come in connection with Shelton’s tenure at St. Clair Shores Medical on Harper Avenue, according to a Macomb Daily report. He was also affiliated with several local hospitals, including St. John Macomb-Oakland in Warren and Beaumont Hospital-Grosse Point, the newspaper reported.

Authorities allege Shelton, a Jamaican national and Canadian citizen working in the U.S. on a Green Card, wrote multiple prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, alprazolam and diazepam after either a brief examination or none at all, the Macomb Daily reported. He would then allegedly bill insurance for the unnecessary prescriptions — some 60,000 written during the conspiracy.

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