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A federal grand jury returned the indictment against Kirsten Van Steenberg Ball, 68, charging her with one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, and 21 counts of distribution of oxycodone, this week, according to Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Ball's office manager, Candie Marie Calix, 40, of Front Royal, used a fake name to hide her true identity and received 50,000 oxycodone pills, illegally prescribed by Ball, over the course of about 10 years, Aber said.
The indictment further alleges that the Virginia Department of Health Professions (DHP) investigated Ball twice: Once in 2015 and once in 2021. Despite the two investigations, Ball did not change her prescribing practices.
According to the indictment, examples of Ball’s prescriptions include the following:
- Prescribing a patient as many as 360 oxycodone 30-mg tablets per month;
- Prescribing similarly high quantities of oxycodone to close family members;
- Paying a patient to perform manual labor on Ball’s home while concurrently prescribing the patient oxycodone, ostensibly for long-term pain;
- Loaning a patient $40,000 while concurrently prescribing the patient oxycodone;
- Continuing to prescribe oxycodone to patients after they failed drug screens.
Calix was sentenced to seven years in prison on Sept. 28, 2022, for conspiring to distribute oxycodone.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine E. Rumbaugh is prosecuting the case.
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