'Be ready next time': 'Rock Doc' sentencing postponed to January

On Thursday when Jackson's infamous "Rock Doc" Jeffrey Young walked into the courtroom of the Odell-Horton Federal Building in Memphis to be sentenced for his role in conspiring to dispense controlled substances, he ultimately left in tears when Judge John Fowlkes further postponed his sentencing to Jan. 16.

In seemingly good spirits, Young strutted into the courtroom dressed in a light blue suit with slicked-back hair, escorted by U.S. Marshalls, as he smiled and waved to his family sitting in support of him.

Young was convicted in April of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances, maintaining a drug-involved premises, and 13 counts of distributing controlled substances, six of which involved distribution to a pregnant woman.

According to court documents and evidence previously presented at trial, Young used his medical practice, PreventaGenix, to illegally prescribe more than one million medically unnecessary controlled substance pills — including opioids, hyrdocodone, oxycodone and fentanyl — to hundreds of patients, including a pregnant woman and women with whom he was having inappropriate sexual relationships.

Trial Attorney Andrew Pennebaker and Assistant Chief Kate Payerle of the Department of Justice's Criminal Fraud Division are the lead prosecutors in the case.

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In what was the commencement of a series of delays, Judge Fowlkes called a recess almost immediately after the hearing began as a result of the prosecution's failure to adhere to local judicial rules that mandate their conference of objections with the defense.

Upon return from recess, the state presented a Drug Conversion Table that provided a detailed report of a total converted drug weight based on the number of illegal prescriptions Young wrote his patients. Measured in kilograms, the sum of converted drug weight allows for the determination of a base-level sentencing, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Facing 5,400 months in prison if convicted, the government maintains that he unlawfully dispensed between the range of 10,000 kg and 30,000 kg worth of prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl. As Fowlkes explained, sentencing calculations are driven by those numbers, and ensuring their accuracy is crucial.

"He's facing probably the most significant sentence I've seen in a long time, and we need to deal with it properly," Fowlkes said.

Young's attorney Claiborne Ferguson says he "disagrees wholeheartedly" with the use of the prescription spreadsheets and accused the prosecution of "illegally double dipping" to impose an unrealistic sentence.

"The idea that we can look at every prescription he wrote as being illegal is not correct," Ferguson said.

In his closing remarks, Fowlkes characterized the prosecution's attempt to file pieces of evidence on the day of sentencing as "almost an ambush." Though some of the evidence was presented in trial, he noted that much of what was provided during Thursday's sentencing had been developed that day.

Adding that he was "disappointed in how the day has gone" and referring to the "relatively little progress" made, Fowlkes postponed Young's sentence and cautioned both sides "to be ready next time."

He also imposed a strict deadline of Dec. 31 for the prosecution to properly file additional exhibits and to allow himself ample time before the January sentencing to review them.

Young left the courtroom following the decision for postponement with tears in his eyes as he repeatedly mouthed the words "I love you" to his family while being escorted out.

Sarah Best is a reporter for The Jackson Sun.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Sentencing of Jackson's infamous "Rock Doc' postponed to January