Athens doctor among four indicted on charges related to sex-for-drugs scheme
From Staff ReportsOriginally published: November 20. 2009 3:01AM
Last modified: November 19. 2009 10:58PM
ATHENS -- A doctor who ran a walk-in clinic is one of four people indicted by a grand jury on charges related to a sex-for-drugs scheme, according to a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation release Thursday.
TBI and the Athens Police Department arrested four people Thursday after a 10th Judicial District grand jury indicted them on multiple charges, including prescription fraud, extortion, conspiracy and filing false reports. The case culminated a months-long investigation by Athens police and the TBI's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
Dr. Rodney Dunham, 56, whose license was suspended in October by the state Department of Health Related Boards, ran a walk-in clinic in Athens and was indicted on one count of dispensing prescriptions by fraud. According to the indictment, Dunham and 19-year-old Laura Cheek, of Athens, were engaged in a relationship exchanging sex for prescription drugs.
Cheek was charged with obtaining prescriptions by fraud, extortion, conspiracy to obtain prescriptions by fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion and filing false reports. Her mother, Patricia Cheek, 42, of Etowah, was also indicted for obtaining prescriptions by fraud, extortion, conspiracy to obtain prescriptions by fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion.
Patricia Cheek was also a patient of Dunham's along with Laura Cheek's neighbor, John Virgil Davis. Davis, 26, of Athens, was charged with obtaining prescriptions by fraud, extortion, conspiracy to obtain prescriptions by fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion and filing false reports.
The three threatened to expose Dunham's relationship with Laura Cheek in order to obtain prescription drugs. In addition, Laura Cheek and Davis filed a police report in August alleging she had been raped, but did not name her attacker. All of the crimes allegedly took place between May and September.
All four subjects are being held in the McMinn County Justice Center. Dunham's bond is set at $8,000 while the other three bonds are set at $25,000 each.
Their arraignments are scheduled for Nov. 30,
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