SHERMAN, Texas (KXII) -- A 56-year-old Sherman doctor has been arrested on federal drug conspiracy charges in the Eastern District of Texas, Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston announced Wednesday.
Howard Gregg Diamond was indicted on July 6 and charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, health care fraud, aiding and abetting, and money laundering.
Diamond was arrested on Tuesday in Sherman and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christine Nowak later that day.
According to his indictment, beginning in 2010, Diamond is alleged to have conspired with others to write prescriptions for substances such as hydrocodone, oxymorphine, methadone, fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone, alprazolam, and zolpidem, without a legitimate medical purpose.
Sources tell us that the investigation into Dr. Diamond began after WFAA's news reports about Collin County doctor Randall Wade, who is accused of prescribing massive amounts of pain killers to patients, leading to eight deaths.
The conspiracy is alleged to have resulted in the overdose deaths of at least seven individuals from 2012 -2016. Those deaths occurred in Sulphur Springs, Texas; Ardmore, Okla.; McKinney; Idabel, Okla.; Yukon, Okla.; Abilene, Texas; and Hugo, Okla.
This past May, the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI agents raided the Diamondback Pain and Wellness centers in Sherman and Paris. At the time, the FBI said it was for failing to maintain sufficient medical records.
According to the Texas Medical Board, Diamond had to pay $500 and complete extra training for the same problem in 2015.
If convicted, Diamond faces up to life in federal prison.
"We would like to see conviction but we would also like people to realize this is an epidemic these opioids are everywhere and doesn't take much and there's a lot of information out there on em it doesn't take much and people become addicted and they die," says FBI spokesperson Davilyn Walston.
Diamond is scheduled for a detention hearing before Judge Nowak at the federal courthouse in Sherman on Friday.