BATON ROUGE - A Louisiana State Trooper who was implicated in a doctor-shopping scheme in north Louisiana appealed his suspension on a timing technicality, and the commission that oversees discipline agreed to reduce his 720-hour suspension to 360 hours.

In exchange for that reduction, Trooper Michael Reichardt agreed to dismiss his appeal against the agency. The commission voted to give Reichardt back pay and benefits for the time that he won back.

Reichardt was a no-show at the commission meeting Thursday.

This year, lawyers for State Police said Reichardt filled prescriptions for 270 Percocet pills in 73 days. Percocet is a controlled substance that is highly addictive and used to treat pain.

"On June 1, 2020, he advised CID that over six months, he received prescriptions for 470 Percocet and 44 tramadol per month from two different doctors," a lawyer representing State Police told the commission.

Reichardt was once the face of the beleaguered Troop F, where Ronald Greene died in State Police custody in 2019. Reichardt was never charged and appeared to have avoided internal inquiries after being made a witness against Dr. David Burkett.

Burkett is facing numerous felonies for allegedly writing fraudulent prescriptions. At the time of his arrest in September 2020, his bond was set at $1 million. To arrest Burkett, authorities used information from those identified as being routine clients of his. In the sealed arrest warrant for the doctor, authorities wrote that Trooper Michael Reichardt admitted to getting fraudulent prescriptions.

Burkett became a criminal target after investigators tracked prescriptions he wrote.