1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Fawn E. Thomas, Public Affairs Specialist

October 13, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Southern West Virginia Physician
Sentenced on Drug Charge

CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA — A 42 year old Shady Spring, West Virginia, resident was sentenced today (October 13, 2011) in United States District Court in Charleston before Judge Thomas E. Johnston.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that ANGELA BASHAM-CALLOWAY, D.O., who practiced in both Oak Hill and Beckley, was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment to be followed by one year supervised release. BASHAM-CALLOWAY entered a plea of guilty on July 7, 2011, to one count of an Indictment charging her with unlawfully acquiring and obtaining possession of Oxycodone (Roxicet) and Amphetamine/Dextroamphetamine (Adderall) and attempting to do so by fraud and deception on December 9, 2010, in Oak Hill.

BASHAM-CALLOWAY is in federal custody.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Johnston said that there is a pervasive prescription drug abuse problem in the Southern District of West Virginia, and that sometimes doctors are a part of the problem. “Doctors bear a special responsibility, and this was an abuse of position of trust,” according to Judge Johnston. “Harsher sentences await medical professionals who contribute to the prescription drug abuse problems.”

The case was prosecuted by Shawn Angus Morgan, Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of West Virginia.

The case was investigated by the Beckley Bureau of Drug Investigations, Beckley Police Department; the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department; the West Virginia State Police; and the West Virginia State Police - Drug Diversion Program; with assistance provided by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Drug Diversion Program.