Ryan Vermillion, the former head athletic trainer of Washington’s NFL team, reached a deferral of prosecution agreement with the federal government for illegally obtaining controlled substances and distributing them to players during his time with the team.
In a deferral of prosecution agreement, the government grants amnesty in exchange for a defendant agreeing to fulfill certain requirements laid out by a judge. Essentially, Vermillion must adhere to the terms of the agreement and remain under supervised probation for one year, and then the government will move to dismiss. If he breaches the agreement, he will face federal prosecution.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration began to investigate Vermillion last year for the possible distribution of prescription drugs, searching his workspace at the team’s facility as well as his nearby townhouse in Ashburn. Washington placed him on administrative leave.
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First assistant U.S. attorney Raj Parekh said in court documents Vermillion “did knowingly, intentionally, and unlawfully acquire and obtain possession of a controlled substance — to wit, oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance — by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, and subterfuge” on or about Jan. 10, 2021, in Loudoun County.
Vermillion, wearing a sports coat and gray slacks with his attorneys by his side, appeared for a brief hearing Friday morning in Alexandria before District Court Judge Claude M. Hilton. No charges were levied against Vermillion or the Commanders.
“I was recently made aware that Ryan Vermillion has entered into an agreement, pursuant to which he has admitted to wrongdoing, but not be charged with any crime, so long as he satisfies certain conditions over the next 12 months,” Commanders Coach Ron Rivera said in a written statement Friday. “The situation is unfortunate and although it resulted in no criminal charges, it was necessary to move forward in a different direction. Ryan’s employment has been terminated. I want to emphasize that the U.S. Government confirmed from the outset that it viewed the organization as a witness, and not as a subject or target of the investigation. We cooperated fully with federal investigators, and we will continue to cooperate with any supplemental League and NFLPA inquiry.”
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Vermillion’s attorney, Barry Coburn, and assistant U.S. attorney Katherine Elise Rumbaugh declined to comment after the hearing.
On Friday, the NFL notified Vermillion that he is indefinitely suspended from working for any club, effective immediately. He may apply for reinstatement in no sooner than one year.
The NFL and NFL Players Association, in a statement released Friday morning, announced they will initiate a joint investigation to determine whether the Commanders complied with the NFL and NFLPA’s prescription drug monitoring program. The Commanders have pledged their support and cooperation, and the NFL will require the team’s medical and training staffs to attend training “regarding obligations under federal and state law and the collective bargaining agreement.”
According to the statement of facts for the case, Vermillion illegally distributed the controlled substances to Washington’s players during his tenure with the team, from 2020 to 2021. He distributed medications to players who were being seen by the team’s training staff for football-related injuries. He did not earn additional profit from the distribution of the drugs.
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Per the court documents, when Vermillion was hired, he became involved in decisions about storing and distributing player medication, including controlled substances such as oxycodone. He also had a prescription pad that bore the name of one of the team’s physicians and his or her DEA registrant number.
Vermillion, according to court documents, determined that the athletic training staff should give certain players “only a portion of their prescription and hold onto the remaining pills” at the team’s training facility because “players were too immature or irresponsible to take custody of their own prescriptions.” Thus, the documents stated, “if those players required more pills from their prescription, they had to go through Vermillion or the other athletic training stuff to get their medication.”
As noted in the documents, members of Washington’s athletic training staff took a black travel bag with them to home and away games; the bag held a variety of medicines, including controlled and noncontrolled substances. Vermillion had oxycodone or hydrocodone in the bag to give to injured players.
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When a player is injured during an away game, the visiting team medical liaison (VTML), an independent, locally licensed physician, has to assess him and determine whether he needs medication. If so, the medication is prescribed and sent to a nearby pharmacy, and a visiting team staff member can pick it up.
Vermillion did not go through the VTML during road games, according to the documents. Instead, he gave players medicine from the team’s travel bag if he felt they needed it. The bag held white envelopes in a pocket labeled “pill envelopes” that contained the medications.
Per the documents, Vermillion also kept a small quantity of oxycodone and other controlled substances in a locked cabinet in the orthopedic office of the team’s headquarters in Ashburn. Vermillion would distribute controlled substances to players from the cabinet if he determined they needed it — even if the prescription had been written for a different player.
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The statement of facts also notes that Vermillion requested and received prescriptions from the team physicians to cover for the fact that he had provided controlled substances to players without a legal prescription. He told Commanders physicians to write oxycodone prescriptions for players whom Vermillion determined should receive more of a drug, and the team physicians “generally agreed and complied with the requests.”
NFL teams typically employ multiple physicians in an array of specialties who often have their own full-time practices. These physicians work separately with teams and in conjunction with full-time athletic trainers and strength and conditioning coaches. Federal law bars anyone other than doctors and nurse practitioners from giving out prescription drugs.
Anthony Casolaro, who practices internal medicine and is still Washington’s chief medical officer, worked alongside former head team physician Robin West, an orthopedic surgeon who spent five years with the team before they parted ways in April 2021. Chris Annunziata, an orthopedic surgeon, is now the head team physician. The Commanders have nine other physicians on their medical team.
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The court documents cite one incident in which a player suffered an injury during a road game and Vermillion provided him a small amount of oxycodone while on the plane with the rest of the team. The player did not take the medicine “because he did not feel that he needed it.”
The following day, according to the documents, Vermillion texted one of the team physicians that he had given out three 5-milligram pills of oxycodone to the player. Vermillion then asked the physician to write a prescription for 10 more 5-milligram pills. The physician complied, but the medicine was never given to the player. Instead, Vermillion kept it as part of his cabinet collection for when another player was injured.
The statement of facts cited five other instances in which Vermillion either illegally gave players prescriptions or in which prescriptions were forged.
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According to the deferred prosecution agreement, Vermillion will be under supervision and must adhere to the following conditions, among others: He cannot commit a crime of any kind; he cannot unlawfully possess a controlled substance; he cannot unlawfully use a controlled substance; he must submit to a drug test within 15 days of the commencement of the agreement term (Friday) and submit to at least two periodic drug tests thereafter; he cannot leave the Western District of North Carolina (where he now resides) without approval from probation officer; and he must make “reasonable efforts” to secure full-time employment.
Vermillion also agreed to pay a fine of $10,000 to the U.S. Treasury within eight months.
If he adheres to the terms, two months after the expiration of the agreement, the U.S. attorney’s office will seek to dismiss with prejudice the crimination information filed against him and will agree not to file any chargers in the future against him based on the conduct described.
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On Oct. 1, the DEA and Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office searched Vermillion’s workspace at the Commanders’ headquarters as well as his nearby townhouse. Roughly two dozen DEA agents, who arrived in unmarked cars, and Loudoun County law enforcement officers executed search warrants while some Washington staff members and players were still in the facility.
The agents seized a variety of prescription drugs and bottles of oxycodone with prescription labels that featured players’ names, according to the case’s statement of facts. Agents also found the black travel bag Vermillion used to carry controlled substances to games. The bag contained the white “pill envelopes” and a variety of medications.
Days later, Washington announced that Vermillion had been placed on administrative leave with pay because of an “ongoing criminal investigation that was unrelated to the team.”
Soon after Vermillion was placed on leave, the team also placed one of his assistants, Doug Quon, on leave. The team never provided a reason for Quon’s leave, and it is still unclear whether his situation is connected to Vermillion’s; Quon is not listed as a defendant in any case.
After the searches, the NFLPA sent a request to the league for information on the matter, stating that the situation “directly impacts player health and safety.” The union also issued letters to player agents, noting that federal investigators had already contacted one player and that “the DEA/prosecutors may contact additional players, but not clearly explain the matter.”
Washington didn’t replace Vermillion or Quon last season. At the time, Rivera said the team would operate “pretty much by committee.” It brought back some summer interns and received help from former Washington athletic trainer Bubba Tyer and former Capitals athletic trainer Greg Smith, in addition to the team’s remaining three assistant athletic trainers.
All told, Washington was without a head athletic trainer for 14 games. In April, the Commanders hired Al Bellamy to replace Vermillion. Bellamy had previously been with the team for 13 seasons, including its Super Bowl XXVI run in 1991-92.
Vermillion spent 18 seasons as the head athletic trainer for the Carolina Panthers, including nine under Rivera. When Washington hired Rivera, Vermillion was one of the first football staff members he brought with him, and he gave him the latitude to lead a revamped athletic training staff.
Vermillion, who was Washington’s director of rehabilitation for a year before joining the Panthers in 2002, also spent nine seasons on the Miami Dolphins’ training staff after working for the University of Miami, which he graduated from in 1987.
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