Caught in the act: Man sentenced for acquiring Oxycodone with fake MRI results

James Lawlor was sentenced to a year of supervised release this week for his role in a large-scale scam that involved using fake MRI results to acquire Oxycodone. This comes months after other participants were sentenced for their own involvement.

For his part in the scam, Lawlor pretended to be a patient at the EMeds Medical Clinic in Opelika, Ala. Amy Robinson, an employee at the clinic, knowingly approved fake MRI results and Lawlor was then able to secure the Oxycodone, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

Numerous “patients” were recruited for this purpose, and Robinson received both money and Oxycodone of her own for her help.

Lawlor apologized for his actions in the courtroom.

“I made a poor choice,” Lawlor said, according to the Advertiser. “I’m not the same man I was back then. I’m sorry.”

Robinson has already been sentenced to one year and nine months in prison. Joseph McCann, who recruited Lawlor and the other fraudulent patients, was sentenced to five years. Jean Thelomat, who helped produce the fake MRI results and falsify the required paperwork, was sentenced to four years and nine months.