A Tennessee doctor and his wife were sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Monday for illegally distributing opioids and defrauding insurers of tens of millions of dollars out of their now-shuttered Alabama clinics, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Dr. Mark Murphy of Lewisburg, Tennessee, and his wife, Jennifer Murphy, both 66, were convicted in March 2022 by a federal jury in Alabama of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiring to defraud the United States and receiving kickbacks.

“Dr. Murphy and his wife preyed on countless vulnerable patients and stole tens of millions of dollars from Medicare and other taxpayer-funded health insurance programs,” said Prim Escalona, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. “Our office will continue to prosecute drug dealers and health care fraudsters to the full extent of the law.”

Prosecutors said that over five years, Murphy and his wife, who was the office manager, caused more than $50 million in fraudulent or unnecessary medical services to be charged to Medicare, TRICARE, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama and others.

The Murphys owned and operated North Alabama Pain Services (NAPS), which closed its Decatur and Madison offices in early 2017.

Mark Murphy wrote prescriptions for more than 10 million opioid pills, including millions of oxycodone tablets, in the five years.

Also on Monday, co-conspirator Christie Rollins, 52, of Petersburg, Tennessee, was sentenced to two yars prison for her role in selling medically unnecessary durable medical equipment and expensive topical creams at NAPS, prosecutors said. Rollins agreed to pay restitution of more than $564,000.