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An osteopathic physician from Illinois was sentenced to 1 year in prison on Wednesday for illegally prescribing the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam (Xanax) to people who were not his patients, the (DOJ) announced.

Matthew Steven Miller, 43, from Collinsville, was indicted for writing Xanax prescriptions for six people who he did not medically evaluate between 2016 and 2018, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

In the sentencing memorandum, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy McMurtry wrote that Miller did not examine these individuals and knew that they did not have a medical need for the drug. McMurtry also noted that Miller knew the drugs would be sold or abused, according to the DOJ press release.

Additionally, McMurtry wrote that Miller did not document the prescriptions and did not consider the medical implications of prescribing the drug to these individuals, including any potential contraindications with pre-existing conditions or adverse drug-drug interactions.

The DOJ said that Miller did not have the necessary licenses to prescribe this drug from the Missouri Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs or the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In June, Miller pleaded guilty to one count of "obtaining a controlled substance by fraud" and one count of "making a false statement concerning a healthcare matter." After the sentencing on Wednesday, Miller was taken into custody, according to the DOJ.

In August 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Miller on 13 counts, including the illegal prescribing of controlled substances, .

Miller was licensed to practice medicine in Missouri, Michigan, and New Jersey at the time the offenses occurred. A recent search of those states' licensing databases revealed either no licenses or expired licenses for practicing medicine or prescribing controlled substances.

In Michigan, an individual named Matthew Steven Miller had been licensed both as an osteopathic physician and to prescribe controlled substances, but both licenses lapsed at the end of 2018, which would have covered the dates mentioned in the indictment.

However, in New Jersey, an individual named Matthew S. Miller held a medical license as a doctor of osteopathy that expired in June 2015 due to a failure to renew.

In Missouri, where Miller pleaded guilty and received his 1-year sentence, there was no available record of a medical license under his name in the state's licensing database.

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