United States of America v. Dr. Jonathan Wayne Morris

St. Louis, Missouri, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with health care fraud, and illegal prescribing of controlled substances.

Dr. Jonathan Wayne Morris, 46, was indicted with 15 counts of illegal prescribing of controlled substances and 23 counts of health care fraud. Dr. Morris has owned Columbia Urgent Care since at least 2019. From at least May 1, 2019, through April 8, 2025, Dr. Morris caused Medicare and Medicaid to be billed for medical services as if they had been provided by him instead of the assistant physicians (APs) that he employs, the indictment says. APs are medical school graduates who have not entered a residency program and therefore require training and supervision by a fully licensed physician. Rather than teaching the APs, Morris allowed the APs to train each other, the indictment says. He left the APs unsupervised when he left the clinic for domestic and international travel, and to work at a different clinic in St. Louis, it says.

The indictment also accuses Dr. Morris of issuing controlled substance prescriptions outside of the usual course of professional practice and for no legitimate medical purpose to friends, associates, those with substance use disorders and those with whom he had sexual relationships. In some cases, Dr. Morris accepted cash for controlled substances or prescribed them for individuals on whom he made sexual advances (sometimes accepted and sometimes unwelcomed), it says. He also prescribed controlled substances to individuals to whom he offered cocaine and other drugs, it says.

Finally, the indictment accuses Dr. Morris of submitting false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement to the Medicare and Missouri Medicaid programs for controlled substance prescriptions that were issued outside the scope of professional practice and to further his personal relationships and/or increase the number of patients at his clinic.

A motion seeking to have Dr. Morris held in jail until trial says investigators are currently aware of about 20 individuals who received prescriptions for a total of over 15,000 individual dosage units of controlled substances from Morris despite the existence of substance use issues, sexual relations with Morris, or both. The motion says the lack of training of the APs rendered the Columbia clinic a “free-for-all when it comes to issuing prescriptions for controlled substances.” The motion says “evidence supports that Morris, who still has an active DEA registration, is continuing to operate his clinic in this manner.”

The FBI, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Sestric is prosecuting the case.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The core mission of the Fraud Division is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. Department of Justice efforts to combat fraud support President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

A criminal indictment is not proof of guilt.