Kirkwood was ordered to appear again Wednesday in Dayton’s U.S. District Court with a full list of his assets, including bank account balances and any stocks, bonds or lines of credit.
Property records in Darke and Montgomery counties show Kirkwood owns at least five properties that were valued in 2014 at a combined $656,602, according to county auditors’ records. County records do not show how much is owed on each property.
Kirkwood told Rice he was surprised at the cost of counsel and thought his former attorney, Douglas Graff, had communicated with Rice about efforts to retain new counsel. Graff withdrew in March as Kirkwood’s attorney, but Rice asked Graff to stay on until a new lawyer takes over.
Rice said he would take the unusual step of finding a defense attorney for someone with that many assets and reminded Kirkwood to take the case seriously, saying that three of the counts carry minimum mandatory sentences of 20 years to life in prison.
Rice also ordered Kirkwood to stay within the Southern District of Ohio and to provide twice-monthly updates about the efforts to liquidate his assets. Kirkwood’s wife, Beverly, was not involved in Tuesday’s hearing.
Kirkwood and his wife have pleaded not guilty to a 20-count, December 2014 indictment that included charges of conspiracy, distributing prescription pills and health care fraud. According to the indictment, Kirkwood would charge $100 per office visit and “examine” 60 to 100 patients per day.
At least seven people died of drug overdoses from painkillers prescribed by Kirkwood at his Kirkwood Family Practice, according to the indictment.
In October 2012, federal and state agents served a search warrant at the 2838 Linden Ave. office run by Kirkwood and his wife, in what Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine then called a year-long investigation into a suspected “pill mill.” DEA agents were seen removing boxes of what appeared to be records.
The indictment states that the object of the conspiracy was “to make as much money as possible by distributing and dispensing controlled substances.
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