DeSoto nurse pleads guilty; doctor pleads not guilty

By Web staff

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    SHREVEPORT, Louisiana (KTBS) — DeSoto Parish nurse Debra Ezernack Craig knew she was guilty before a federal grand jury indicted her last week. She had already signed a plea agreement with the government and testified before the grand jury.

Craig, 66, of Converse, made that admission public Tuesday morning with a formal guilty plea during her first court appearance.

But down the hall in another courtroom, her co-defendant, Dr. Jeffrey Evans, the physician she worked for, didn’t follow suit. Evans, who said he turned 66 Sunday, entered a not guilty plea to charges that he obtained and distributed prescription pills by fraud.

Magistrate Judge Mark Hornsby set dates in November and December for Evans’ case. But no trial date was set.

Evans’s attorney, Ron Miciotto, said Evans will give up his medical license and his passport. He’s free on a $25,000 unsecured bond.

Back in courtroom 1, U.S. District Judge Maurice Hicks Jr. accepted Craig’s guilty plea — which he said happened under “very unusual circumstances — but postponed a sentencing date.

Craig’s attorney, Craig Smith, said he and his client met with the government prior to the grand jury session and she felt it was in her best interest to go ahead and plead guilty.

Debra Craig is cooperating with an ongoing investigation and that will factor into the sentencing guidelines, which could put her in prison for up to 4 years. She’s also free on a $25,000 unsecured bond while a pre-sentence report is prepared. Hicks set a status conference for Feb. 2.

Craig and Evans were indicted on Oct. 26 in a multi-count indictment accusing them of assorted offenses related to prescription pill fraud. Craig, however, only pleaded to count 11, which is obtaining controlled substances by fraud.

The government said Evans, a former longtime physician with DeSoto Regional Health System, convinced Craig, who worked as his LPN, to illegally fill prescriptions for hydrocodone-acetaminophen on his behalf by indicating to her he needed the medication to treat pain.

Evans would write prescriptions to Craig in the name of “Debbie Craig” for 100 dosage units of hydrocodone-acetaminophen 10-325 mg and would give money to Craig to get them filled at Mansfield Drug. Then Craig would give the medication to Evans, the government said.

The government singled out Sept. 18, 2020 as one of the days Craig got a prescription filled for Evans as the basis for her guilty plea. Hydrocodone-acetaminophen is a Schedule II controlled substance.

Craig has already forfeited her nursing license.

Unrelated, Evans resigned as the DeSoto Parish coroner following his indictment last week.

The case against Evans and Craig is investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and prosecuted by Alexander C. Van Hook, special counsel to the United States attorney, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Shannon.

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