Laurel County Company Pleads Guilty to Obtaining Misbranded Injectable Drugs

LONDON, Ky. – A Laurel County, Kentucky company, Facial Expressions, pleaded guilty to the receipt of misbranded drugs in interstate commerce.  Separately, its owner, Dr. Paula Gill, pleaded guilty to providing false information on an application to the DEA.

Dr. Gill owned and operated Facial Expressions, which was a business that provided treatments to customers involving injectable drugs, primarily derived from botulinum toxins to remedy or mitigate skin wrinkles. Dr. Gill administered these drugs to Facial Expressions’ customers.  The manufacturing, labeling and distribution of these prescription drugs are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and they can only be legally acquired from an authorized and licensed distributor in the United States. Botulin toxin drugs available from unlicensed foreign suppliers are not authorized for use in the United States. 

According to the company’s plea agreement, between August 2019 and August 2023, Facial Expressions purchased botulinum toxin type A drugs that were manufactured, packaged, and labeled for sale in Korea and/or Turkey, and thus were not authorized for use inside the United States by the FDA. Multiple customers experienced side effects linked to the botulinum injections that they received at Facial Expressions during this period. In total, these customers incurred additional medical expenses of at least $24,369 to fix these side effects.

In addition to Facial Expressions’ guilty plea, Dr. Gill pleaded guilty to providing false information to the DEA.  On August 4, 2021, she knowingly lied on a DEA form to renew her DEA registration number by stating that her license to practice dentistry had never been suspended, when in fact the Kentucky Board of Dentistry did suspend her license in October 2010.

“Patients should be able to trust that the clinics they go to for care are operating by the book, which includes the purchase of prescription drugs through safe, FDA-approved channels,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Paul McCaffrey. “When medical providers breach that trust, we will hold them accountable.”

“Medical professionals who obtain prescription drugs outside the legitimate supply chain put their unsuspecting patients at significant risk,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Ronald Dawkins, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Metro Washington Field Office. “We will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who put profit over patient safety and jeopardize the public’s health.”

Acting U.S. Attorney McCaffrey, FDA Acting Special Agent in Charge Dawkins, and Phillip J. Burnett, Jr., Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police (KSP), jointly announced the guilty plea.

The investigation was conducted by the FDA- Office of Criminal Investigations and KSP.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany Dunn-Pirio is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

Dr. Gill is scheduled to be sentenced on October 16. She faces up to four years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.  However, any sentence will be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes.

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