A judge rejected a plea agreement Wednesday that federal prosecutors had reached with a former Franklin doctor accused of prescribing drugs to patients in excessive amounts. 

Roy D. Reynolds, 66, had pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to two counts of dispensing controlled substances outside the course of his professional medical practice, accepting an offer from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky that recommended a sentence of between three years on probation and two years in prison.

The range of potential penalties for Reynolds in the plea offer differed drastically from federal sentencing guidelines calculated by the U.S. Probation and Parole Office, which arrived at a punishment range of 121 to 151 months in prison (10 to 12.5 years).

At a hearing in October, U.S. District Court Judge Greg Stivers referred to the plea agreement as a “sweetheart deal” and indicated he was likely to reject it without additional information about how Reynolds’ prescribing practices compared with other doctors in the state and how other physicians were punished in other courts for similar crimes.

Stivers received the information ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, and he said his review of the data confirmed his inclination to reject the plea agreement.

Data from the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system indicated Reynolds was among the most prolific prescribers of controlled substances in the state during the time he was accused of federal offenses and was in the top 1 percent of prescribers of hydrocodone, oxycodone and benzodiazepines from 2010-12, according to Stivers.

“I have an impression from this data that Dr. Reynolds was absolutely dispensing these pills indiscriminately,” Stivers said. 

Information from the U.S. Sentencing Commission indicated that, while many doctors who had similar criminal cases to Reynolds were sentenced below recommended federal guidelines, their punishments still largely exceeded what was being offered to Reynolds.

“I’m not saying a 24-month sentence is meaningless, but

it is far below what other physicians with comparable crimes have received,” Stivers said.

Authorities accused Reynolds of prescribing drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, clonazepam and Xanax to two patients despite the fact Reynolds’ charts for the two patients showed they had a history of illegal drug usage, doctor-shopping and psychiatric issues.

Court records indicated the patients were prescribed opiates even though no legitimate diagnosis of pain was established. 

The two patients died in 2011 from overdoses.

In 2012, a grievance was filed with the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure that claimed Reynolds inappropriately prescribed controlled substances in a manner that led to a patient’s fatal overdose, and the Simpson County Coroner’s Office had investigated three overdose deaths and one suicide involving Reynolds’ patients in an 18-month span before the grievance.

Reynolds forfeited his medical license and closed his family practice this year.

Stivers also referenced a number of letters he had received from former patients, colleagues and others who know Reynolds, saying they appeared to portray the practitioner as the “victim of a witch hunt.” 

Stivers said Reynolds echoed the sentiment in remarks he made to the U.S. Probation and Parole Office as it compiled its pre-sentence report, which indicated that Reynolds had not taken responsibility for his actions.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weiser asked the judge to accept the plea agreement, arguing that it represents a fair resolution to the case.

“We believe that it will punish Dr. Reynolds for his conduct and we believe it will act as a deterrent for other doctors,” Weiser said.

Reynolds’ attorney, Matt Baker, argued that the plea agreement would have allowed Reynolds to receive a punishment in line with those of other doctors, some of who received probation or probation and a term of home confinement.

“I think there is some good evidence that would tend to support the court’s acceptance of the plea agreement,” Baker said.

The attorneys will hold a telephonic conference with Stivers on Dec. 6 to determine whether Reynolds will withdraw his guilty plea.

— Follow courts reporter Justin Story on Twitter @jstorydailynews or visit bgdailynews.com.