Ex-Phenix City Doc Faces Prison in Opioid Pill Mill Case

A former Phenix City doctor has pleaded guilty to his role in operating a large-scale “pill mill.”

The operation was believed responsible for unlawfully distributing about 1,800 pounds of opioids in the past decade.

Fifty-four-year-old Robert Ritchea pleaded guilty Monday. He was arrested in May on money laundering and drug distribution charges.

Authorities said Ritchea wrote prescriptions for drugs – such as hydrocodone and methadone – for patients that he knew didn’t have a medical need for them.

He used the profits from his pill mill to buy pain medications directly from a drug manufacturer, and used the drugs to keep the pill mill in business without going through a pharmacy.