Former Kenton County Coroner David Suetholz was convicted last week in federal court of multiple drug-related charges.
Suetholz, of Ludlow, was found guilty by a federal jury of illegally prescribing controlled substances Oxycontin, Klonopin, Ambien, and Valium in violation of the Controlled Substances Act.
Court documents and evidence presented at trial indicated that Suetholz unlawfully prescribed the medications outside the usual course of professional medica; practice and not for legitimate medical purposes.
Federal prosecutors argued that Suetholz prescribed some patients high doses of medication “and in dangerous combinations without justification.”
The former coroner was also accused of prescribing to patients without assessing their risks for addiction or their past history of substance abuse.
Suetholz was convicted on twelve counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and is scheduled to be sentenced in March of next year. He faces a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison on each count.
A federal judge will determine the sentence.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the Kentucky Medicaid Fraud Unit.
Suetholz was indicted in October of last year. He was reported to be 73 at the time and had retired as coroner just months earlier.
Suetholz, a physician, was first appointed coroner in 1991 and served in that elected position as a Republican until his retirement in 2021.Â