Ex-Waterville Medical Provider Admits He Lied to FBI

A former physician's assistant from Waterville has pled guilty to federal charges that he lied to the FBI.

Seventy-two-year-old Eldon L. Leinweber previously owned and operated Mansfield Family Clinic in Soap Lake and provided medical services throughout North Central Washington prior to retiring in four years ago.

In 2015, the state Department of Health made allegations that Leinweber had been prescribing narcotics to scores of his patients too frequently and attempted to suspend or revoke his medical license.

Leinweber eventually surrendered his license four years later but did so without any admissions of guilt.

In December of 2019, Leinweber was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of unlawfully dispensing narcotics and the plea agreement he signed this week, indicates he admitted to making false statements to FBI agents in May of 2019.

The plea agreement states Leinweber told the federal agents investigating his case that he checked the vital signs of his patients “99.99 percent” of the time before providing them with a prescription for an opioid..

Leinweber did not admit to unlawfully writing prescriptions but his crimes of providing false statements to the FBI are punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Based on recommendations from the U.S. Attorney's Office for Washington's Eastern District, Leinweber is likely to receive two years of probation when he’s sentenced in July.