File Photo In this 2016 photo, officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration load evidence boxes obtained at the office of Dr. Roger Anderson at Putnam Commons as part of an ongoing federal investigation to obtain medical and prescription records.

MARIETTA — A former Marietta physician whose downtown office was raided by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2016 is expected to go to trial within the next year on 14 federal charges.

Roger Dale Anderson, 61, whose last known address was 4450 Barnett Ridge Road, Fleming, faces possible prison time if convicted of the charges, which include one count of conspiracy to dispense and distribute controlled substances.

In the March 21 indictment, the federal prosecutors allege that Anderson would pre-sign prescriptions in Marietta for staff to complete and distribute to patients in his absence.

“It is further a part of the conspiracy that at the direction of Anderson, the pre-signed prescriptions were distributed to patients by staff, who were not legally qualified to issue, distribute or dispense prescriptions for Schedule II and III controlled substances,” reads the indictment alleging that the prescriptions would be distributed at a kiosk in Putnam Commons in the 100 block of Putnam Street in Marietta.

Putnam Commons and Anderson’s medical practice at the northern corner of Front and Putnam streets were raided by the DEA alongside the Washington County drug task force in February 2016 resulting in these charges three years later.

“I didn’t know until yesterday that he had been indicted, arraigned and awarded bond and that the trial date had been set,” said Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks on Thursday. “The charges do probably come out of the warrant we executed with the DEA. We had the case, and we were working on it in bits and pieces and the DEA got interested and worked with (task force member) Eric Augenstein.”

Augenstein was not available for a comment Thursday, but previous testimony in a 2015 case in which Anderson was accused of harboring a fugitive in 2015 indicated that Anderson had been under investigation by the task force.

“Have we ever discussed Dr. Roger Anderson in a drug investigation? Oh yes,” said Sgt. Scott Parks as he testified in a May 2015 hearing in Marietta Municipal Court. “His name comes up constantly.”

Those charges were dropped later that year.

Anderson purchased Putnam Commons in 2009, along with Union Station in the 200 block of Putnam and Glass Press Properties at 217 Union St., for $350,000, and the building at 101 Putnam St. where he practiced in 2010. He also owns the condemned Wine Shop building on Front Street, and in Barlow two parcels on Martin Road, six parcels on Riggenbach Hill Road, one on Barth Road and four on Barnett Ridge Road.

The final pretrial conference in the case was initially scheduled for next week, with a trial scheduled for the last week of May. However, both the defense and prosecution have filed a joint motion to continue the case and extend time to file motions, responses, stipulations and jury instructions with a requested trial date next January.

United States District Judge Algenon L. Marbley had not ruled on the motion as of Thursday, according to his staff.

The federal grand jury also indicted Anderson on nine counts of illegal dispensing of Schedule II controlled substances on the following dates:

* Oct. 21. 2014: 120 325-milligram pills of hydrocodone-acetaminophen.

* Nov. 11, 2014: 120 325-milligram pills of hydrocodone-acetaminophen.

* March 3, 2015: 150 325-milligram pills of hydrocodone-acetaminophen.

* April 16, 2015: 180 325-milligram pills of oxycodone-acetaminophen.

* April 28, 2015: 90 325-milligram pills of oxycodone-acetaminophen.

* May 5, 2015: 240 325-milligram pills of hydrocodone-acetaminophen.

* June 18, 2015: 120 5-milligram pills of oxycodone.

* Aug. 14, 2015: 120 10-milligram pills of oxycodone HCL.

* Jan. 8, 2016: 120 325-milligram pills of oxycodone-acetaminophen.

Outside of the distribution charges and conspiracy to dispense and distribute, Anderson also faces four additional federal counts including one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud.

All four counts stem from the allegation that between Jan. 1, 2012 and March 29, 2016, Anderson and unnamed co-conspirators allegedly submitted claims to health care benefit programs for Schedule II controlled substances that were dispensed and distributed by pharmacies as a result of alleged pre-signed prescriptions.

The charges also allege that Anderson submitted claims for office visits which did not occur and in billing, “falsely represent[ed] the level of exam and medical decision making used during the office visit, in order to receive inflated reimbursement from the health care benefit programs.”

Citing “voluminous discovery materials which need to be reviewed” purportedly from the 2016 raid, the defense notified the court that it will “likely require the retention of one or more defense expert witnesses.”

Included in those materials, it mentions medical records spanning over the four years in question as well as associated billing information.

According to the eLicense Ohio Professional Licensure database, Anderson still retains his medical license to practice, which was first issued on July 1, 1992. It was last renewed on July 2, 2017, and is scheduled to expire on July 1, 2019.

Neither attorneys for Anderson nor for the federal prosecution returned calls for comment Thursday.

A number for Anderson had been disconnected.