Former Chief Operating Officer of Pain Care Centers Sentenced

ROANOKE, Va. -The former chief operating officer and practice manager of several southwest Virginia pain clinics was sentenced yesterday to 36 months in federal prison for her role in healthcare fraud and drug conspiracies at the clinics.

Jennifer Adams, 52, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, served as the Chief Operating Officer of L5 Medical Holdings, a company doing business under the name "Pain Care Centers" that operated clinics in Woodlawn, Lynchburg, Madison Heights, Blacksburg, and Christiansburg.

In November 2024, Adams pled guilty to helping conceal illegal prescribing and healthcare fraud at the clinics.

According to court documents, in 2014, despite having no medical training, a former mortgage broker and L5 Medical's owner, John Barnes, purchased and operated Pain Care Center clinics. Among other things, providers at the practice prescribed opioids and opioid addiction treatment medications, including Suboxone. Adams, who also lacked medical training, helped Barnes run the clinics.

As part of her plea, Adams admitted to encouraging medical providers with L5 to follow the opinion of non-medical professionals in making medical decisions, including whether a patient should be treated for opioid addiction or for pain management, whether a patient should receive a prescription, and what type of drug should be prescribed.

Adams also admitted to knowing that one practitioner, Dr. Wendell Randall, was not providing medically legitimate care to patients. Court records show that L5 employees described Dr. Randall as a "quack" and "train wreck," explained his files did not "justify continuing the medication" he prescribed to patients and questioned if "anyone check[ed] to see if he was real doctor."

Adams acknowledged she knew L5 illegally used the prescribing credentials of some doctors - known as registration numbers - to prescribe Suboxone, a Schedule III drug used to treat patients with opioid addiction, even when the doctors had not seen the patients who received the prescriptions. Additionally, Adams helped implement drug testing policies at the clinics that improperly inflated bills to medical insurers.

Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee, Special Agent in Charge Ibrar A. Mian of DEA Washington Division, Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General's Philadelphia Region, Colonel Matthew D. Hanley, Superintendent of the Virginia State Police, and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares made the announcement today.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, the Virginia State Police, and the Virginia Attorney General's Office - Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. Cagle Juhan and Jason M. Scheff prosecuted the case.