Christopher Owens, a former UCSF surgeon, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for unlawfully prescribing oxycodone hydrochloride without a medical purpose. He worked at the university-affiliated Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco.

Owens was arrested in Indiana on July 11th, 2017, as part of the largest health care fraud enforcement action in the Department of Justice’s history. The former San Francisco vascular surgeon initially entered a not guilty plea on the drug charges, 36 counts of distributing oxycodone.

Owens’ profile on the university website said he is a 1998 graduate of Indiana University’s school of medicine and listed nine research grants and 70 published studies under his name. Another site listed him as a specialist in vascular surgery, aneurysms, deep vein thrombosis and diseases of the carotid artery.

One of his alleged victims, 35 year old Danielle Pattillo, was found dead in her apartment under what investigators called suspicious circumstances. Pattillo worked at the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center with Owens. She mysteriously died in what investigators initially thought was a mere drug overdose.

But Paul Pattillo, who was in the midst of a divorce with Danielle, said she had become involved with Owens. She was found deceased and he was the last person who was with her.

Owens was immediately placed on investigatory leave by the University, UCSF fired him five months later after he was booked on local drug charges. But those charges with the San Francisco District Attorney’s office never stuck.

DEA agents also arrested Owens as part of the nationwide crackdown on fraudulent opioid prescriptions spearheaded by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The federal indictment alleged that between September of 2012 and June of 2015, Owens, who had moved to Indiana, intended to act outside the course of usual professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose when he prescribed oxycodone on numerous occasions. In sum, Owens is charged with 36 counts of illegally distributing oxycodone.

His California Physicians and Surgeons certificate was revoked by the Board of Medicine in June, 2017.

Owens pleaded guilty to Count 36 of the indictment on March 20, 2018. According to his open plea application filed with the court, Owens acknowledged he prescribed the drugs without a legitimate medical need and outside of the course of medical practice.

In sentencing Owens, Judge Alsup stated, “[Owens] was not running a pill mill, . . . but he was doing something just as bad . . .. He used that prescription pad to feed a habit.”

In addition to the prison term, Judge Alsup ordered Owens to serve three years of supervised release to begin after his prison term is completed and a $7,500 fine. Judge Alsup ordered Owens to surrender and begin serving his sentence on December 3, 2018.