McHenry County doctor convicted of crimes related to overprescribing opioids
MCHENRY – McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally announced on Feb. 2, that 69-year-old Thomas C. Tilot of the 6600 block of Burning Tree Circle in McHenry, was officially convicted of four counts of Unlawful Dispensing of a Controlled Substance, considered Class 4 misdemeanors.
According to McHenry County court records, Tilot was initially charged with 25 drug-related, low-level felonies, though his reduction in convictions were due to a negotiated plea deal between the county and Tilot, stated Kenneally.
Tilot had been a practicing internal medicine specialist for over 20 years, seeing patients out of a McHenry-based office located at 5435 Bull Valley Road. He was affiliated with Northwestern Medicine McHenry, Huntley, and Woodstock hospitals.
“This is a first-of-its-kind, historic prosecution of a doctor for overprescribing opioids to unsuspecting patients who he got hooked,” said Kenneally in a Feb. 2 press release. “This wasn’t a case of greed in that Dr. Tilot was dispensing drugs to patients with bogus symptoms for the money. Rather, this was just bad doctoring and an overreliance on prescribing opioids to the point where he was endangering the lives of his patients and making them sicker.”
According to Kenneally, the State’s Attorney’s Office began collaborating with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) back in 2018.
The two agencies proceeded to review the prescribing practices of doctors in McHenry County. It was through this investigation that Tilot was identified as a peak prescriber.
Upon further investigation of specific patients, investigators concluded that some of Tilot’s prescribing practices were indefensible and went far beyond any acceptable medical standards.
“The opioid epidemic, despite falling out of the top story on the nightly news, is only getting worse,” said Kenneally. “In 2021, over 100,000 Americans died of a drug overdose—the most ever. That’s more people than the entire populations of Crystal Lake, Woodstock, and McHenry City combined.”
In regards to the plea deal, the State’s Attorney’s Office agreed to slightly reduce the charges given facts that Tilot has voluntarily relinquished his medical license, has no prior criminal history, and after consultation with the victims.
“While there are multiple engines driving the epidemic, over-prescription of opioids by physicians continues to be one of the primary causes. Local practitioners should be aware that the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office will continue to monitor prescribing practices for any discrepancies and use all means at our disposal to redress them,” added Kenneally.
As another condition of his plea deal, Tilot agreed to pay a little over $2,000 in court fines and fees.
“With over 100,000 Americans dying each year from opioid overdoses, medical professionals who violate their oaths to ‘do no harm’ must be held accountable,” said Robert Bell, special agent in charge of the U.S. DEA—Chicago Division. “The DEA will continue working to keep Illinois families safe from medical professionals who illegally divert opioid painkillers from legitimate medical supplies.”
