North Carolina Physician Sentenced to Prison

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A North Carolina physician has been sentenced to prison for conspiring to allow his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration number to be used for thousands of unlawful buprenorphine prescriptions, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell ordered Henry Ronald Emery, Jr., 54, of Waxhaw, N.C., to serve six months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release. The sentencing hearing was held on Thursday, August 13, 2026.

"To end the opioid epidemic, we have to address the problem on all fronts, and that includes physicians who abuse their responsibility prescribing controlled substances," said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. "Physicians play a significant role in treating patients struggling with substance use disorder and the vast majority take that responsibility very seriously. However, those who abandon that responsibility, compromise patient care, and fuel the unlawful distribution of addictive drugs will be held accountable."

According to filed documents, from September 2018 through 2022, Emery was a licensed physician in North Carolina with a family medicine practice in Weddington, N.C. He was also employed by Church Ekklasia Sozo (CES), a non-profit corporation operating as an online medical provider. CES purported to offer a legitimate opioid addiction treatment program that provided care through telemedicine. In order to obtain a prescription through CES, patients were required to fill out a short questionnaire on the organization's website. Generally, a member of the CES administrative staff then reached out to the patient, obtained payment for the prescription, and used a medical prescriber's DEA registration number to issue the prescription. Emery allowed administrative personnel at CES to use his DEA registration number to issue over 25,000 prescriptions of buprenorphine to patients in multiple states. Generally, Emery did not have any personal interaction with a CES patient before a buprenorphine prescription was issued in his name by CES administrative personnel.

Emery received payments totaling $452,830 from CES during the conspiracy. A forfeiture money judgment was ordered in this amount by Judge Bell at sentencing.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked the DEA for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nick J. Miller and William Bozin of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.