Zachary T. Lee Acting United States Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia
The former chief operating officer of several pain clinics in southwest Virginia has been sentenced to 36 months in federal prison. Jennifer Adams, 52, from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, held the position at L5 Medical Holdings, which operated under the name "Pain Care Centers" across various locations including Woodlawn, Lynchburg, Madison Heights, Blacksburg, and Christiansburg.
In November 2024, Adams admitted guilt to charges related to healthcare fraud and drug conspiracies at these clinics. Court documents reveal that John Barnes, a former mortgage broker without medical training, acquired the Pain Care Center clinics in 2014. The practice involved prescribing opioids and opioid addiction treatment medications such as Suboxone. Despite lacking medical expertise herself, Adams assisted Barnes in managing the clinics.
As part of her plea agreement, Adams confessed to encouraging medical providers with L5 to heed non-medical opinions when making decisions about patient treatments for opioid addiction or pain management. She also admitted awareness of one practitioner, Dr. Wendell Randall's failure to provide legitimate care. Employees described Dr. Randall negatively and questioned his qualifications.
Adams acknowledged that L5 improperly used some doctors' prescribing credentials—registration numbers—to prescribe Suboxone without doctor-patient consultations. Furthermore, she helped implement drug testing policies that led to inflated billing for insurers.
The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee along with officials from the DEA Washington Division and other law enforcement agencies involved in investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. Cagle Juhan and Jason M. Scheff prosecuted the case.
