Missouri lawmaker Tricia Derges found guilty of wire fraud, illegally distributing drugs

State Rep. Tricia Derges, a Republican in Missouri’s House of Representatives, was found guilty on Monday of 22 charges including wire fraud, illegally distributing drugs like Oxycodone and Adderall without valid prescriptions, and lying to investigators. 

“This is an elected official who stole money from the public, a purported humanitarian who cheated and lied to her patients, and a medical professional who illegally distributed drugs,” U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore said in a statement by the Justice Department’s Western District of Missouri. “She violated her position of trust to selfishly enrich herself at the expense of others.”

This ruling marks the end of a two week-long criminal trial in Springfield for a federal investigation that started back in March 2020. Derges was originally indicted by a grand jury in February 2021, but additional charges surfaced a month later. Some included her seeking out nearly $900,000 in CARES Act funding for COVID-related expenses that had already been paid for at her several medical clinics she founded throughout southwest Missouri and through her nonprofit, Lift Up Springfield. 

“[Derges] took advantage of a global pandemic to benefit herself financially with complete disregard, not only to her constituents, but to the oath she took as a health care professional to do no harm,” FBI agent Charles Dayoub said in the Justice Department’s statement.

The federal jury also found Derges guilty of marketing fake stem cell treatments through her clinics. She obtained and administered amniotic fluid, which she falsely claimed contained stem cells, to patients with tissue damage, kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Lyme disease, and erectile dysfunction, among other health issues.

She also marketed the amniotic fluid as a treatment for COVID-19.

“This amazing treatment stands to provide a potential cure for COVID-19 patients that is safe and natural,” Derges wrote on Facebook in April.

Derges represents Christian County (District 140) in the Missouri House. She was first elected in November 2020 for a two-year term. She will not be able to run again, however, as Missouri law states that a person cannot run for public office “who has been found guilty of or pled guilty to a felony under the federal laws of the United States of America.”

Derges’s team did not respond to a request for comment on whether she plans to fight these charges and run again.

The length of her sentence has yet to be decided.