'Pill Mill' Doctor Ordered To Pay Restitution, Give Up 2 Properties

OAKTON, VA — An Oakton doctor sentenced to prison in a "pill mill" scheme has been ordered to pay restitution and give up two properties. Multiple fatal drug overdoses were tied to the doctor's drug prescribing scheme.

In May, David Allingham, 65, was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute oxycodone and amphetamines, maintaining drug premises, and false statements relating to health care matters. Allingham owned and was the only medically licensed practitioner at Oakton Primacy Care Center, and the website advertised his specialty in treating patients with addiction.

The latest court order means Allingham will forfeit a $168,000 money judgment and two properties and pay restitution of $169,244 to three victims for their losses in the scheme.

The pill scheme happened between at least April 2019 and January 2024. According to prosecutors, Allingham would write prescriptions for opioids and amphetamines without properly assessing the medical need of the patients. Court documents indicate that pharmacies within Virginia filled 7,330 prescriptions for oxycodone totaling 405,164 pills that Allingham prescribed.

Prosecutors say multiple patients died of drug overdoses within hours, days or weeks of getting an oxycodone prescription from Allingham.

Patients paid out of pocket for office visits to Oakton Primacy Care Center, costing $300 to $550 per patient. It would be an extra $700 to receive a doctor's letter. Allingham required patients with chronic pain to visit the practice at least every 21 days, but some of these visits were virtual with a non-medical trained employee. Prosecutors say Allingham authorized prescription renewals without a physical exam but just based on "uncorroborated information the patients provided."

At appointments, Allingham often required patients to take a urine drug screenings but often ignored failed screenings and withheld them from patient files. One patient failed 40 drug tests between 2019 and 2023 but continued to receive oxycodone prescriptions, prosecutors say. Allingham wrote in the patient's file that the patient tested positive for cocaine by handling money with cocaine residue.

In addition, the doctor prescribed amphetamines to multiple chronic pain patients to help with weight loss, regardless of if they were obese. According to prosecutors, at least 527 prescriptions for amphetamines with more than 13,500 pills were given to patients.

Multiple pharmacies decided to investigate the doctor's opioid prescribing practices and refused to fill some of his ordered prescriptions. Once a national pharmacy chain indicated it would no longer fill prescriptions written by Allingham, he told his employees to phase out brand pharmacies and use "mom and pop" pharmacies to avoid further scrutiny of patients and his high-dose opioid prescribing practices.

Allingham also got his employees to unlawfully use another doctor's identity to prescribe medications for himself and his family. The doctor directed staff to provide the Oakton Primacy Care Center phone numbers for the prescriptions fraudulently wrote with the doctor's name. Allingham instructed staff how to respond if pharmacists called to inquire. The doctor whose name staff fraudulently used was not employed at Oakton Primacy Care Center at the time.

When police were investigating Allingham's home and medical practice in July 2023, prosecutors say Allingham made false statements about his prescribing practices and instructed an employee to delete text message communications with him.