A former longtime DeSoto Parish physician will spend a year and a day in federal prison for prescription drug fraud following his sentencing Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Shreveport.
Jeffrey Evans, 66, of Mansfield also must pay a $100,000 fine. He was ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons on May 21.
Meanwhile, one of his former co-defendants has violated terms of her probation and is pending revocation.
Evans was indicted in October 2022 on a multi-count indictment for obtaining and distributing prescription drugs. He pleaded guilty in March 2023 to one count of the 20-count indictment.
Evans worked for decades at DeSoto Regional Health System. He also was the parish’s elected coroner. He resigned in connection with his guilty plea.
Previous sentencing dates have been canceled, the latest happening in October when the court said Evans was to be evaluated for a “serious health condition.”
In his plea, Evans admitted to obtaining prescription drugs illegally through an arrangement with his nurse Debra Craig and medical assistant Debra Palmer. He admitted in his plea the drugs were not used for a legitimate medical purpose.
Evans’ tenure as the hospital’s medical doctor ended as federal investigators began looking into the trio’s activities.
Craig, 67, of Converse, pleaded guilty in November 2022. She was sentenced in May to six months supervised probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.
She said Evans convinced her to illegally fill the prescriptions on his behalf at Mansfield Drug, saying he needed the medication to treat pain. He would give her the cash to pay for it then she would give him the drugs.
PROBATION VIOLATED
Palmer, 49, of Mansfield, was sentenced in February 2023 to two years of supervised probation for forging prescriptions to get pain pills. She generated over 200 fake prescriptions for herself and family members by using DeSoto Regional Health System's electronic medical records system.
As part of her plea, Palmer was ordered not to commit other crimes and not to have firearms in her possession. But an arrest warrant was issued for her in February after federal probation agents conducted an unannounced visit at her home on Palmer Road in Mansfield and found a shotgun in her bedroom.
According to a court document, the shotgun was in plain view, and a gun safe also was in the bedroom. Palmer admitted to knowing the shotgun was there even though she is not supposed to have one in the home.
Palmer told agents the firearm belonged to her husband, who left it there during their separation.
She made an initial appearance in federal court on March 13. She was released with supervised probation pending a final revocation hearing set for 11 a.m. April 17 before U.S. District Judge Donald Walter.
Palmer was given 24 hours to remove all firearms from her home.