Huntsville Narcotic Treatment Center Agrees To Pay $95,000 Penalty

BIRMINGHAM – A Huntsville-area Methadone treatment center has agreed to pay the United States a $95,000 penalty for numerous record-keeping and inventory violations cited in a 2012 regulatory investigation, announced Acting U.S. Attorney John H. England III and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay A. Morris.

The settlement agreement between the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and Metro Treatment of Alabama, doing business as Huntsville Metro Treatment Center, was finalized Monday. The settlement was reached without any filings in U.S. District Court. With payment of the penalty, the government agrees to release Huntsville Metro Treatment Center from all civil liability for violations of record-keeping requirements established under the Controlled Substances Act.

"The $95,000 penalty in this matter represents the largest penalty ever collected in Alabama in a DEA drug diversion investigation," England said. "It is imperative that treatment centers which handle controlled substances keep clear and current records on the shipments and use of those narcotics so that they can be tracked and not diverted for illegal use in our communities," he said.

The Huntsville Metro Treatment Center is a facility registered with the DEA. It is one of several narcotic treatment centers in Alabama owned or operated by Colonial Management Group. The settlement agreement comes in response to allegations by the DEA that the Huntsville center failed to maintain complete and accurate records and inventories of controlled substances dispensed or received.

The violations cited in a DEA Scheduled Regulatory Investigation from March 26, 2012, to June 26, 2012, at the Huntsville center included its failure to account for about 3,423 dosage units of Methadone and failure to accurately complete required DEA forms on multiple shipments of Methadone. The DEA investigation also cited the center for not properly maintaining DEA forms and for a "general failure to maintain complete and accurate records."

The Huntsville center, as part of the settlement agreement, denies any intentional violation of regulations, but states it has altered several record-keeping procedures at the DEA's request.