HOUSTON
Arthur Billings, 61, of Missouri City, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $2.6 million for running a cash-only pill mill pharmacy.
Billings, owner and pharmacist-in-charge of Health Fit Pharmacy, admitted he conspired for four years to illegally dispense hydrocodone and oxycodone and lied on a disability benefits application. Court records show Health Fit filled fraudulent prescriptions—many in the names of stolen physicians’ identities—for drug traffickers who paid hundreds of dollars per script and resold the pills on the black market. Despite repeated warnings from state and federal regulators, the pharmacy continued operating.
Three co-conspirators, all Houston pharmacists, were also sentenced today:
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Deanna Winfield-Gates, 56 – six years in prison, $60,000 forfeiture. Convicted by a jury of dispensing more than half a million addictive pills.
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Jeremy Branch, 38 – 22 months in prison, $68,931 forfeiture. Served as pharmacist-in-charge in 2017.
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Frank Cooper, 55 – 20 months in prison, $5,000 forfeiture. Worked as a relief pharmacist.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.