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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — A dentist in Rochester will spend 15 years behind bars after he was sentenced for stealing drugs from patients and performing surgeries without proper pain management.
Phillip M. Jensen, 64, was sentenced on Dec. 18, specifically for stealing fentanyl from his patients, injecting them with adulterated drugs and performing surgery without proper pain management. He has also been ordered to pay a $200,000 fine.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of Illinois said in a release Friday afternoon that Jensen previously pleaded guilty to two counts of drug diversion, two counts of acquiring a controlled substance by fraud, one count of tampering with consumer products resulting in serious bodily injury and two counts of false statements relating to health care matters in August 2024.
Prior to having his license suspended in 2022, he specialized in oral and maxillofacial surgery and started stealing fentanyl from his patients as early as December 2019. This conduct first came to light when his staff started noticing patients who were moving, moaning and otherwise showing signs of pain and distress during surgery.
Jensen admitted that he stole at least half of the fentanyl in every vial in the practice. He acknowledged removing the safety caps, withdrawing at least half of the fentanyl in the single-use vials, refilling the vials with saline and gluing the caps back on to the vials.
In a further effort to hide what he had done, Jensen made false entries into his surgical records claiming that he had given quantities of full-strength and unadulterated fentanyl to his patients to control their pain. He further billed both public and private insurance for these surgeries utilizing these same falsified records.
In all, Jensen stole over 40 grams of fentanyl for his personal use through his fraud. At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Colleen R. Lawless, the government presented evidence of Jensen’s lengthy history of addiction, his previous efforts at treatment and his decision to prey upon his patients by stealing the drugs that were meant to provide them with comfort during surgeries.
The government presented evidence of the elaborate steps Jensen took to disguise his theft and how his theft of this pain medication affected his patients. During the hearing, Judge Lawless heard from several of the more than 99 identified victims of Jensen’s fraud, including the statement of a mother who discussed looking into the face of their child immediately following the surgery as the child cried and state they had “felt everything.”
When Jensen realized the child was awake, he struck her in the head with an instrument and completed the surgery, which involved the extraction of multiple teeth as well as the shaping and smoothing of the bones in her jaw while she was conscious and lacking pain management.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Lawless rejected Jensen’s argument that he was less culpable than an average drug dealer. She noted that Jensen profited from his crimes and state that while a dealer provides drugs to knowing and willing participants, he provided diluted drugs without the consent or knowledge of his victims.
Lawless also noted that Jensen was a physician who used his position of trust to hurt others. She concluded by asking, “If you cannot trust your doctor, who can you trust?”
“This case represents the commitment of the Department of Justice, both in the Central District of Illinois and beyond, to protect and defend the public from those that would prey upon them,” said U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris. “People are never as vulnerable as when they place their faith in a health care provider to not only treat their condition but to administer anesthesia and pain medicine during that treatment. Jensen abused that faith and hurt others in the process.”
A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Jensen in February 2022 charging him with twenty felony counts. He was originally released on bond, but a warrant was issued in July 2024 for violation of the terms and conditions of bond after he stalked and harassed a potential witness in the case.
Jensen was detained at the time, and he has since remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service.
“Health care professionals who tamper with patient medications create a risk of harm to patients, and also put at risk the trust that U.S. consumers have in those who provide their medical care,” said Ronne Malham, Special Agent in Charge of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations Chicago Field Office.
Lawless, in imposing the 15-year sentence, rejected Jensen’s arguments for a lower drug weight and noted the egregious nature of his conduct. On top of the $200,000 fine imposed, Lawless ordered Jensen to repay the government for the costs of the expert witness it had to hire. Additionally, Jensen lost his medical license as a result of his conduct.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration Diversion Unit and the Springfield Resident Office, which focuses on cases involving pharmaceutical controlled substances diverted from the legal chain of commerce to the illegal drug market, investigated this case in conjunction with:
- Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office
- United States Food and Drug Administration
- Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas F. McMeyer and Sierra Senor-Moore represented the government in the prosecution.
“Medical professionals who violate their oaths to ‘do no harm’ must be held accountable,” said Sheila Lyons, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration – Chicago Division. “The DEA will continue working to keep Illinois families safe from medical professionals who illegally divert opioid painkillers from legitimate medical supplies.”