Sentencing set for doctor in Ohio pill mill case

COLUMBUS (AP) — A judge has set a sentencing date for a Chicago doctor convicted of running a pill mill in southern Ohio and causing the death of four patients who overdosed.

Dr. Paul Volkman faces 20 years in prison on those four charges at his Feb. 14 sentencing in federal court in Cincinnati.

He also was convicted of eight other distribution counts that prosecutors said resulted in fatal overdoses but did not leave enough evidence to convict him of the deaths.

Volkman was found guilty in May of illegally prescribing Oxycodone, a painkiller that has been blamed for overdose deaths around the country.

Volkman declined to testify at the trial that saw 70 government witnesses, including pharmacists, police investigators, clinic employees and patients who received pills from Volkman.