Weight Loss Center Owner Gave Out Diet Pills, Impersonated Doctor: Indictment

By SCOTT VIAU (Patch Staff)

A Naperville resident and owner of a Lombard weight-loss center and a Burr Ridge physician have been charged with conspiracy and other crimes related to dispensing appetite-suppressant drugs without a legitimate medical purpose, according to the Northern District of Illinois U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to a 17-count federal indictment, Michael Jennings, owner of Results Weight Loss Center in Lombard, made cash payments to the doctor in exchange for using the physician’s federal registration number to order and dispense hundreds of thousands of dosages of Phendimetrazine and Phentermine.

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The physician, William Mikaitis, was rarely present at the weight-loss center, according to the indictment. Instead, Jennings, who is not a doctor and doesn't have medical training, told people his name was “Dr. Mikaitis” and ordered the prescriptions without conducting meaningful examinations or tests, the indictment states.

The indictment alleges that between February 2013 and January 2015, Jennings made cash deposits of about $75,000 into Mikaitis’ bank account. The indictment seeks a total forfeiture from the defendants of about $790,000 in illegal proceeds from the scheme.

The indictment charges Jennings, 48, and Mikaitis, 72, of Burr Ridge, with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances outside the course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose, seven counts of distributing controlled substances outside the course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose, seven counts of dispensing prescription drugs without a valid prescription, and one count of conspiracy to conduct a financial transaction involving the proceeds of unlawful activity. The counts are punishable by a maximum combined sentence of 95 years in prison.

Mikaitis, who has a medical practice in Lockport, is also charged with of engaging in a monetary transaction involving criminally derived property valued at more than $10,000. This count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Jennings and Mikaitis will be arraigned before U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall on June 9 at 9:30 a.m.

Photo by Algont at nl.wikipedia.