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Press Release

Former Parker Doctor Pleads Guilty to Illegally Distributing Controlled Substances

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Colorado
Doctor also involved in money laundering

DENVER – Dr. John Alan Littleford, DO, age 72, currently of Manhattan, Kansas and formerly of Parker, Colorado, pled guilty today before Senior U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Blackburn to felony charges related to the illegal distribution of controlled substances and money laundering, U.S. Attorney Jason R. Dunn, DEA Denver Division Special Agent in Charge Tim McDermott, and IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Steven Osborne announced.  Dr. Littleford is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Blackburn on April 23, 2019. 

According to the stipulated facts contained in the defendant’s plea agreement, Dr. Littleford owned and operated the Pain & Injury Clinic in Parker, Colorado. Dr. Littleford held himself out as a practitioner in the field of “pain management,” although he did not have any certification in that field and had not completed a medical residency, which would have been directly applicable to the field of pain management.

Littleford pled guilty to illegal distribution of controlled substances for distributing Oxycodone, Morphine, Clonazepam, and Carisoprodol to an individual outside the usual course of professional practice and for a purpose other than a legitimate medical purpose. Specifically, on April 30, 2012, Littleford wrote the individual prescriptions for 840 tablets of 30mg Oxycodone; 120 tablets of 80mg Oxycodone; 360 tablets of Percocet (10mg Oxycodone/325mg Acetaminophen); 240 tablets of 100mg Morphine; 240 tablets of 2mg Klonopin (Clonazepam); and 240 tablets of 350mg Soma (Carisoprodol). Dr. Littleford’s file for the individual did not include any documentation of an exam, a diagnosis, or a management or treatment plan. Those prescriptions, in those quantities, written together, were not justified by any medical condition the individual had.

The individual to whom Dr. Littleford distributed the controlled substances was formerly a Senior Police Officer for the City of Westminster, Colorado. Before the individual came to Dr. Littleford for treatment, he had been hospitalized on several occasions for opioid detoxification and he disclosed in his intake questionnaire at the Pain & Injury Clinic that he had “self detoxed” and “did inpatient detox.”

Littleford also pled guilty to money laundering in order to promote his illegal distribution of controlled substances at the Pain & Injury Clinic.

As part of his plea agreement, Dr. Littleford agrees the Court can consider his distribution of controlled substances to seven different individuals he saw at the Pain & Injury Clinic—involving more than 14,000 pills of various opioids, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, and muscle relaxants as well as fentanyl patches and hundreds of vials of injectable meperidine—as relevant for sentencing in his case.

This case was investigated by the DEA Denver Division and IRS Criminal Investigation.

The defendant is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys  Peter McNeilly and Jaime Peña.

Contact

Jeff Dorschner
Spokesman, Public Affairs Officer
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Colorado
303-454-0243 direct; 303-454-0400 fax

Updated December 12, 2018

Topics
Opioids
Prescription Drugs
Press Release Number: CASE NUMBER: 16-cr-00122