After a four-day trial, Brian McDevitt, D.O., aged 61 and based in Chapmanville, was found guilty by a federal jury on four counts of distribution of a controlled substance. The jury also ruled that McDevitt must forfeit his West Virginia medical license and the Chapmanville Medical Clinic, where he practiced as a sole practitioner.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that McDevitt prescribed controlled substances outside professional practice boundaries and without legitimate medical reasons. Specifically, he issued prescriptions for hydrocodone on May 17, 2022, and March 29, 2024, as well as alprazolam on May 18, 2022, and March 29, 2024.
McDevitt is set to be sentenced on May 22, 2025. He faces up to 50 years in prison.
In the past, McDevitt pleaded guilty on January 20, 2010 to conspiracy charges related to using a registration number unlawfully and conducting monetary transactions with proceeds from unlawful activities. He admitted to allowing others to use his federal registration number for distributing phentermine and converting the resulting cash proceeds for personal use. For these offenses, he was sentenced on June 29, 2010 to one year and one day in prison followed by three years of supervised release and fined $60,000.
United States Attorney Will Thompson stated: “Dr. McDevitt was one of the original drug dealers in a lab coat and did not learn his lesson from his prior convictions and prison sentence.” Thompson added that McDevitt continued violating ethical duties as a physician "to enrich himself at the expense of vulnerable West Virginians."
The investigation was carried out by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) alongside the U.S. Route 119 Drug Task Force which includes members from various sheriff's offices in Mingo County, Logan County, Boone County along with the West Virginia State Police.
Jim Scott, Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Louisville Division remarked: “Dr. McDevitt chose to put his own greed above the health and well-being of his patients... they should expect to meet the full measure of our justice system.”
The jury trial was presided over by United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston with Assistant United States Attorneys Owen Reynolds and Andrew J. Tessman prosecuting.
For more details about this case or related court documents visit PACER under Case No. 2:24-cr-96.