Dr, Robert L. Ignasiak, known as “Dr. Bob” in Freeport where he worked for years as the only physician in town, has been sentenced 30 years in federal prison.
Ignasiak, 58, originally was convicted in November 2009 of operating a “pill mill,” in which he indiscriminately prescribed drugs like hydrocodone, diazepam and morphine to patients.
He was sentenced Tuesday on 12 counts of health care fraud and 29 counts of illegally distributing controlled substances, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pensacola. He also was sentenced on one count of failing to appear for trial.
Ignasiak disappeared on Nov. 3, 2012, as he awaited a second trial on the charges.
Investigators following up on a missing persons’ report found Ignasiak’s red Lincoln near Seagrove Beach. They found a suicide note and what appeared to be blood inside the car.
“We were suspicious this was actually a suicide,” Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson said when Ignasiak turned up alive and well last September in Coral Springs.
A month after he was recaptured, Ignasiak pleaded guilty to the original charges as well as the failure to appear charge.
Ignasiak operated his pill mill between 2001 and 2005 from Freeport Medical Clinic, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
He “developed a reputation as a physician who freely prescribed highly addictive controlled substances,” the news release said.
“Ignasiak continued to prescribe these substances even after becoming aware that his patients were abusing them,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported. “Ignasiak’s illegal prescribing practices resulted in the deaths of several of his patients.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.
