LEBANON, TN – Just 15-minutes north of Rutherford County, special agents assigned to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Medicaid Fraud Control Division, with the assistant of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, have obtained indictments charging a Lebanon nurse accused of unlawfully prescribing controlled substances.

As part of an ongoing investigation, agents became aware of allegations involving Alton Birmingham, a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) at a physician’s office in Lebanon. Further investigation revealed that, on several occasions in 2020, while the doctor wasn’t in the office, 49-year-old Birmingham allegedly continued to see patients and called in prescriptions using the doctor’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration number. The practice is no longer in operation.

This past Friday, the Wilson County Grand Jury returned indictments for Birmingham (DOB 10-6-1974), charging the Lebanon man with seven counts of Unlawful Distribution of Controlled Substance. Birmingham surrendered to authorities Tuesday and was subsequently booked into the Wilson County Jail on $10,000 bond.

The state originally approved Birmingham's original license as a practical nurse in 2008. Birmingham's license is listed as having "Multistate Status." That license is set to expire in one year on October 31, 2024. 

NOTE: The TBI’s Medicaid Fraud Control Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $8,983,614.75 for federal Fiscal Year 2023-2024. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $2,994,538.25 for Fiscal Year 2023-2024, is funded by the State of Tennessee.

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