The former owner and lead pharmacist of Trivillian's Pharmacy was sentenced Tuesday to just over a year in federal prison.
U.S. District Court Judge John Copenhaver ordered Paula Butterfield, 72, to spend one year and one day in prison. She pleaded guilty in February to making a false statement relating to health care matters, health care fraud and misbranding drugs.
Although the sentence is significantly less than the five-year maximum she could have received, federal sentencing guidelines called for Butterfield to spend up to six months in prison.
A sentence of one year and one day allows someone to get credit for good behavior. If Butterfield was sentenced to exactly one year, she would not have been able to be let out early for good behavior.
The judge acknowledged that Butterfield had been cooperative throughout the government's investigation and noted that she has expressed remorse for her actions. Copenhaver also cited the numerous letters he'd received in support of Butterfield and her ongoing struggle with cancer as part of the rationale behind his sentencing.
He ultimately decided the sentencing needed to exceed the federal sentencing guidelines.
"It needs to be long enough to deter others from like conduct," Copenhaver said.
Before her sentencing, Butterfield expressed remorse, saying, "I'm deeply sorry for my actions. I'm so sorry I've disappointed members of the community and my friends."
Copenhaver gave the former pharmacy owner 90 days, in which Butterfield will try to complete the sale of several assets and the liquidation of her company, until she is required to turn herself in to authorities to be imprisoned.
She also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine before she reports to prison on Dec. 11 and will be under supervised release for three years upon her release.
Tim Carrico, Butterfield's lawyer, said she is attempting to sell property in Myrtle Beach and Arizona to settle the balance of fines she was ordered to pay in July.
In addition to her sentencing, the federal government concluded its case against Trivillian's Pharmacy, which Butterfield operated from 1978 until it was raided in September 2014.
In January, Butterfield agreed in a $1.1 million civil settlement with the state and the U.S. Attorney's Office to sell the pharmacy and use the proceeds to pay off fines.
The government's case against the pharmacy is scheduled to wrap up once the business is liquidated, which Butterfield's attorneys estimated would be within the next 90 days.
Although Copenhaver placed the pharmacy on a three-year probation, that will be negated once the business is liquidated.
In total, between the civil settlement and the forfeiture related to the case, restitution and penalties associated with the case were in excess of $1.4 million.
After Butterfield's sentencing, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin expressed satisfaction with the outcome.
"I hope that it will send a deterrent message to those individuals who would engage in this sort of conduct and violate the sort of trust that was violated here, with respect to the community and with respect to the patients that they served," he said.
Goodwin said physicians, pharmacists and pharmacies are in positions of trust in the community and, for that reason, Butterfield's sentencing was enhanced.
"When pharmacists and pharmacies engage in certain conduct like this, then it violates a very significant amount of trust that the community and patients have in those health care professionals, especially when we are dealing with an epidemic of prescription drugs and heroin that flow from them as a result," he said. "It's critical that the people involved in the system be trustworthy and uphold those very high values that we place in them."
Reach Joel Ebert at 304-348-4843, joel.ebert@dailymailwv.com, or follow @joelebert29 on Twitter.