The owner of a Rayford Road pharmacy will face up to five years in federal prison after a jury convicted him of running a kickback scheme that funneled more than $20 million in government money through his Spring business.
Tronown Thomas, 54, was found guilty July 11 of conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks after a five-day trial in the Southern District of Texas, CW39 reported, citing a U.S. Department of Justice announcement. The jury deliberated more than a day before returning its verdict.
Thomas owned and operated Rayford ACP Pharmacy on Rayford Road in Spring. Prosecutors said he paid more than $2 million in kickbacks to the owner of a Houston clinic in exchange for referrals of patients covered by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs. Those patients had been prescribed compounded medications, custom-mixed drugs that generate high reimbursements from the federal program.
The scheme ran from November 2015 through September 2017. During that window, Thomas and his pharmacy collected more than $20 million in reimbursements.
Thomas was originally indicted in April 2022 alongside five co-defendants, including Houston physician Dr. Charles Willis and clinic owner Henry Gonzales, all accused of conspiring to bill federal workers' compensation for medically unnecessary compounded drugs, according to Hoodline.
His defense team argued at trial that the payments were for legitimate marketing services. The jury rejected that argument.
FBI Houston said on X on Aug. 12 that Thomas "was just found guilty of running a $20 million illegal kickback scheme."
U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett set sentencing for Thursday, Nov. 12. Thomas faces up to five years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. He remains free on bond pending sentencing. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn Olson and Alexander Alum prosecuted the case, according to Texas Border Business.
The investigation spanned nearly a decade and involved five federal agencies: the FBI, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.
The Thomas case is not isolated in the Houston area. In June 2020, Houston pharmacist George Philip Tompkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $12.3 million in restitution for a $21.8 million compounding kickback scheme targeting the same federal workers' compensation program. In May 2025, former Pharr pharmacist John Aguedo Rodriguez received five years for a $110 million version of the same fraud.
Residents with information about health care fraud can contact the FBI Houston field office or submit tips through the FBI's website.
