Pain clinic owner set for sentencing in drug case

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A Louisiana businessman convicted of conspiring to distribute oxycodone and methadone in eastern Kentucky through pain clinics in other states is set to be sentenced in federal court.

Michael Leman, the 48-year-old owner of Urgent Care Services in Cincinnati and Philadelphia, is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove on Thursday afternoon in Lexington. Van Tatenhove will also hand down a criminal penalty for the company.

A jury in March convicted Leman and the clinics of conspiring with several of his employees to prescribe methadone and oxycodone to bogus patients who were working with drug dealers to distribute the medications in the Appalachian region of Kentucky, where prescription drug abuse is rampant.

The jury also ordered Leman to forfeit $825,000 as the profits of the scheme.