Lunati Pleads to 18 Months in Prison

The Commercial Appeal reports:

Topless nightclub kingpin Ralph Lunati pleaded guilty in federal court today to conspiracy to use a facility of interstate commerce to promote prostitution.

He made the plea in exchange for a jail sentence of 18 months and no fine. The judge must approve the sentence.

Lunati, 62, is owner of Platinum Plus at 2514 Mt. Moriah and part-owner of Tunical Cabaret & Resort on U.S. 61 South where 75 employees were indicted in December on charges related to drug sales, prostitution and weapons offenses at the two clubs.

He will forfeit his interests in the clubs and lose the money seized there during raids — more than $207,000 at Platinum Plus and more than $19,000 at Tunica Cabaret.

Supplying ingredients to the “purple drank” or “sizzurp” may cost West Memphis Doctor his license

Local West Memphis physician, Dr. James Miller said he had never heard of the street drug concoction “purple drank” or “sizzurp” until a state investigator showed up asking why he was prescribing so much of its key ingredients. . .

. . . [T]he state physician licensing board thinks he should have known better. He now faces a December hearing to determine whether he should lose his medical license.

Read whole story here.

UPDATE: Trip Cook reported the following:

In August, Miller was the subject of an Emergency Order of Suspension by the board.

The board lifted the order of suspension in September, but voted to prohibit Miller’s use of his DEA permit until his hearing.

A DEA permit allows a physician to prescribe scheduled medications.

Trice said the reinstatement came from a request by Miller.

“He made a request of the board to permit him to treat his other patients if he could just give up his DEA permit during this period of time,” Trice said. “Since that is what the board was mad at him about, the board accepted his offer.”

The investigation included information from the West Memphis Police Department, a state pharmacy oversight group and reviews of medical records by physicians.

Judge raises Mitchell-Ford’s bond to $50,000

The Commercial Appeal reports that the bond for Tamara Mitchell-Ford was increased to $50,000 from $100 this morning by a judge citing her local criminal record, which includes a drunken driving conviction and two pending DUIs.

General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Louis Montesi said he may review the bond further if prosecutors present documentation of DUI convictions in three other states, including Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina.

City Councilwoman-elect Wanda Halbert Subpoenaed to Fed Jury

Halbert confirmed Tuesday that she has been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury investigating business practices at Memphis City Schools.

Halbert, a school board member who was elected to the council in the Oct. 4 city elections, said she is not a target of the probe yet knows of dubious dealings in the school district.

“There’s just been a lot of questionable practices at the school system,” said Halbert, a school board member since 2000 who takes office as a councilwoman Jan. 1. She declined to discuss details, saying only, “I have been called to testify as a witness as to how Memphis City Schools conducts business.”

Read the Commercial Appeal’s story.