Linda Sue Cheek
Linda Sue Cheek
To quote the government:
Linda Sue Cheek, 64, of Dublin, Va., was indicted in May 2012 and charged with 86 counts of distributing scheduled controlled substances without holding a valid certificate of DEA Registration, 81 counts of using a DEA registration number issued to another person, five counts of using a DEA registration number which has been revoked or suspended, and one count of maintaining a drug-involved premise.
She continues to fight back. Her website www.lindacheekmd.com was still active as of May 13, 2014. Becoming a physician at 40, she claims to practice alternative medicine. From her site, where she calls herself a "prisoner of war":
As a physician, Dr. Cheek put her life, freedom, and livelihood on the line for her patients, and for you. She has stood up to government attack not once, but twice. She is willing to do this because the message is so important.
The result of the government attacks is that Dr. Cheek is a felon and unlicensed as a physician. But, considering the government agenda in health care and pain management, that should give Ms. Cheek more credibility, not less. And it should make you want to show support for the cause.
Why would you want to put your faith in a felon? Because Ms. Cheek is a Felon With a Cause: Health Care.
If someone is so sure of what she knows that she is willing to go to prison for people to learn from her knowledge, it must be real.
One of the reasons the government attacks Dr. Cheek is she speaks the truth. The government is not your friend. You must stop depending on them and take responsibility for your own health. Government programs, government handouts, government insurance, these are all ways they use to keep you right where you are.
She was convicted on 172 counts, including 86 counts of distributing scheduled controlled substances without a valid DEA Registration, 81 counts of using a DEA registration number issued to another person, and five counts of using a revoked or suspended DEA number. Her medical license was revoked in 2008 after pleading guilty to defrauding Medicaid and Medicare, reinstated in 2009, then revoked again in 2011.
The rest is the government’s side of the issue.
A former medical doctor from Dublin, Va., convicted in February 2013 on 172 criminal counts of diverting pain medication, was sentenced on October 22, 2013, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke.
Following an eight-day trial in February 2013, a jury convicted Cheek on 172 of 173 counts. She was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $17,125 special assessment.
"Prescription drug abuse is an epidemic that is destroying lives and ruining too many Virginia communities," United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said. "Despite losing her license to prescribe medicine, Dr. Cheek illegally fed the addiction of hundreds of patients while collecting their money. The criminal prosecution of unethical medical professionals like Dr. Cheek is a central part of our comprehensive strategy to address the prescription drug crisis. We must also continue to reduce demand and provide effective treatment if we are to have an impact on this public health emergency."
Evidence presented at trial by Assistant United States Attorney Jennie L.M. Waering showed Cheek wrote prescriptions using her revoked DEA number and another person’s DEA number.
Ref: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Virginia, October 22, 2013 (justice.gov)
This case is strange—a “holistic doctor” convicted not for quackery but for hardcore drug diversion. “Holistic medicine” typically means treating the whole person—mind, body, spirit—often with alternatives like herbs or acupuncture, not just pills. Cheek’s site pitches it as patient empowerment against government overreach, yet her 172 counts (86 illegal distributions, 81 misused DEA numbers) paint a picture of a pill mill, not a wellness crusade. She wrote scripts after her DEA registration was revoked, using others’ numbers, raking in cash from addicts—hardly “alternative” medicine.
The oddity deepens with her history: license revoked in 2008 for Medicare/Medicaid fraud, briefly reinstated in 2009, then gone again in 2011. By 2012, indicted at 64, she’d been a doctor since 40—over 20 years of skirting rules. Her “prisoner of war” rhetoric suggests a martyr complex, claiming persecution for “truth” about health autonomy. Yet, the feds saw a profiteer fueling Virginia’s opioid crisis (4.5 opioid deaths per 100,000 in 2013, CDC), not a healer. Was “holistic” a cover for a rogue operation, or did she believe her own hype? Either way, her 33-month sentence—light for 172 counts—won’t sway her fans or fix the wreckage she left.
