A onetime Maplewood dentist has agreed to a financial settlement in connection with allegations that he funneled hundreds of opioid painkiller doses through illegal prescriptions to an employee and his own son, among others.
Jerry K. Brunsoman, 77, and the Ideal Skin Laser Rejuvenation Center will pay $75,000 in civil penalties in exchange for not admitting guilt, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday.
Brunsoman operated the center before the Minnesota Board of Dentistry stripped him of his U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration last summer.
According to the suit against Brunsoman and the center, the prescriptions that Brunsoman allegedly issued included 36 oxycodone pills for a laser technician at his practice. Federal officials said Brunsoman failed to document examining the employee or provide a rationale for the prescriptions.
He did the same for his adult son three times for 30 tablets each from December 2015 to July 2016, the suit alleged.
"Communities rely on doctors to help treat and improve their quality of life," said William Stockman, program manager for the DEA's Omaha Division Diversion Program. "Doctors are held to a certain standard and are not expected to disregard controlled substance laws and regulations."
Officials with the Minnesota Attorney General's Office visited Brunsoman unannounced in February 2017 after his office manager complained to the state dentistry board about the prescriptions for the employee.
"As a result of Brunsoman's violations of the [Controlled Substances Act], hundreds of doses of controlled substances are unaccounted for and presumed to have been diverted for illicit purposes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Marentette wrote in the complaint.
