Woodbridge Pain Clinic Manager, Customers Face Opioid Charges

WOODBRIDGE, VA — The manager of a Woodbridge pain clinic forged prescriptions for opioids and then illegally sold them, according to federal prosecutors.

Monica Raynette Clark, 31, of Waldorf, Maryland, was charged this week with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

Clark was employed as the office manager of Memorial Care in Woodbridge and was previously the office manager of WDC Spine, a pain clinic in Washington, D.C., that closed in 2019, according to the complaint. She allegedly forged prescriptions for opioids using prescription pads from the clinics' doctors, then illegally sold the forged opioid prescriptions to customers in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

Certain customers — Larry Nathaniel Waller, 48, of Williamson, West Virginia, Mildred Taylor, 67, of Stephenson, West Virginia, Jason James Johnson, 41, of Kermit, West Virginia, and Lisa Ann Lewis, 41, of Smithsburg, Maryland — also were named in the federal complaint.

Clark is allegedly in a romantic relationship with Michael Tyrone Scott III, 28, of Waldorf, who allegedly assisted Clark in selling the forged prescriptions and was named in the complaint.

Waller, Johnson, Taylor and Lewis were customers of Clark who allegedly purchased opioid prescriptions for themselves and for others. Law enforcement officials discovered text messages between Clark and Waller, Johnson, Taylor and Lewis arranging for the purchase of forged opioid prescriptions, according to the federal complaint.

The criminal complaint was announced Wednesday by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner.

“State and federal authorities are working to shut down ‘pain clinics’ that are really just fronts for criminals who divert pharmaceutical drugs and hook a new generation of addicts” Lenzner said in a statement.

The Justice Department alleges that from July 2019 to April 2021, more than 40 prescriptions were filled in Johnson’s name that were purportedly signed under the name of a Memorial Care and/or WDC Spine doctor.

The affidavit claims that in an effort to evade scrutiny by law enforcement, Clark used several telephones to sell prescriptions and instructed customers to use specific pharmacies to fill prescriptions. For example, Clark allegedly advised Taylor to fill prescriptions at a pharmacy “in Woodbridge … as long as everybody has a West Virginia ID or Virginia ID” as Clark was purportedly aware that pharmacies had begun to refuse opioid prescriptions from Memorial Care.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

The FBI worked with other federal agencies, along with the Virginia State Police, West Virginia State Police, Prince William County Police Department and Fairfax County Police Department on the case.