Peru "pill mill" doctor enters into plea agreement with no prison time

50 felony charges would be dropped against Tristan Stonger

Carson Gerber
Nov 2, 2017

PERU – A Peru pain doctor who was arrested on 55 felony charges in connection to operating a “pill mill” has entered into a plea agreement in which he would serve over 10 years on probation, but no prison time.

Dr. Tristan Stonger, who lives near Bunker Hill, operated Pain Management Centers of Indiana, which had offices in Peru, Bloomington and Indianapolis. Prosecutors say his headquarters were located in Peru.

Stonger, 70, was arrested in January after a three-year investigation by agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, who spent months surveilling Stonger’s Peru clinic located at 1 S. Broadway St.

On Thursday, he appeared before Miami County Circuit Court Judge Tim Spahr to enter into an agreement with prosecutors, in which he pleaded guilty to five of the charges in exchange for the remaining 50 charges being dropped.

The charges to which he pleaded guilty include possession of a narcotic drug, two counts of issuing an invalid prescription for legend drugs, insurance fraud and Medicaid fraud.

The agreement calls for a 10-and-a-half-year sentence to be served as supervised probation. The agreement would also prohibit Stonger from applying for any medical license in Indiana, or any license or permit from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Judge Spahr has taken the agreement under advisement and will either accept or reject it during a hearing set for Nov. 30.

Miami County Prosecutor Bruce Embrey said he felt the plea agreement was appropriate considering Stonger’s age and the fact the courts have seized all his assets following his arrest.

“We’ve got a 70-year old doctor who was not able to do much, if any, prison time if this went to trial,” Embry said. “We’re taking his livelihood, we’re taking his property and we’re taking his license. He’ll have to find some other way to live.”

Stonger also faces charges in Indianapolis and Bloomington, where he operated branches of his clinic. Embrey said prosecutors involved in those two cases have agreed any additional convictions in their cases would not add time to the sentence set in the plea agreement in Miami County.

The court hearing Thursday comes after investigators say a former employee said Stonger had a number of “back door” patients who didn’t have to wait to see him, despite his other patients waiting sometimes three hours for their appointments, according to court documents.

At least two patients told investigators they were employed by Stronger at his farm near Bunker Hill, where they worked on his vehicles or fed animals in exchange for payment for their pills.


Agents also identified two patients who died from overdoses after Stonger refilled their prescriptions.

The son of one victim, who died in Howard County, told investigators Stonger knew he was treating drug-addicted patients and did not prescribe pills for legitimate medical issues.

The son said Stonger “knows how to get away with it” and called the Peru clinic “just a legal dopehouse,” according to the affidavit.

Carson Gerber can be reached at 765-854-6739, carson.gerber@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter @carsongerber1.

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