Rokita: Indiana physician prescribed pills to addicts, had romantic relationships with patients

RENSSELAER, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has filed a petition seeking to suspend the controlled substance registration of a physician in Rensselaer over “unsafe prescribing practices.”

According to the petition filed July 3, the attorney general’s office had received several complaints against Dr. Patrick Sheets, a family medicine doctor working in Rensselaer.

One person accused Sheets of prescribing their mother addictive drugs despite knowing she struggled with addiction. Another patient complaint claimed the doctor tried to force them to do “illegal things” in order to keep receiving their medication.

The complaints prompted an investigation that started sometime after July 2024.

The results, later listed in the petition, accuse Sheets of several instances of medical mismanagement. A few examples are listed below:

• Sheets reportedly allowed staff to control and use his controlled substance “fob” with no oversight and allowed it to be placed in non-secure locations, like a mailbox.
• Sheets prescribed patients drugs or controlled substances without appointments; prescribed Adderall for weight loss; and prescribed “addictive and dangerous drugs to an addict.”
• Sheets failed to secure patient health records and “kept them in an unlocked shed.”
• Sheets also former employees to fabricate medical records, according to the court documents.

The attorney general also claimed Sheets of having romantic relationships with patients and staff, all while prescribing them drugs. The petition adds that sometime around March 6, CVS Pharmacy stripped Sheets’ ability to fill prescriptions for patients at any CVS.

Sheets’ practice was eventually issued a vacate order after learning the property had “no running water, no working sewage, and no electricity.”

The petition concludes by requesting an emergency hearing with the Indiana Board of Pharmacy on the matter and further requested Sheets’ license be suspended for “not more than 90 days.”

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