A doctor in the Cadillac area with ties to a former Ann Arbor clinic has been charged with putting false information on medical charts to qualify people for medical marijuana.
Dr. Edward Harwell appeared Wednesday in Wexford County District Court. The case comes five months after the state attorney general's office filed a professional misconduct complaint against him with the Board of Medicine.
The criminal charges are the result of an undercover investigation. The 76-year-old Harwell has operated clinics in Cadillac and Ann Arbor.
Harwell was affiliated with the Liberty Clinic in Ann Arbor, the scene of a dramatic armed robbery in September 2010. The clinic went out of business soon after.
The doctor told AnnArbor.com in June 2010 that he was anti-drug until attending a medical marijuana conference and studying the benefits of cannabis on his own. At the time he was traveling weekly to the nonprofit Liberty Clinic to certify patients.
A message seeking comment was left with his attorney.
The misconduct complaint accuses Harwell of failing to properly evaluate patients who paid to get his approval for medical marijuana. The next hearing in that matter is March 26.