Indian among 10 docs in jam for pill-pushing

CHARLESTON, W.VA. — Ten doctors, including an Indian American physician, have been charged with overprescribing pain pills from clinics in West Virginia and Virginia, leaving two patients dead.

Most of the 69-count indictment charges the owners, managers and physicians associated with Hope Clinic with conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and other controlled substances that weren’t for legitimate medical purposes from 2010 to 2015.

Hope Clinic had offices in Beckley, Beaver and Charleston, W.Va.; and Wytheville, Va.

The indictment said the defendants allegedly laundered drug proceeds by paying bonuses to physicians and employees of a patient screening firm to encourage prescribing opioids. It said the owners knew customers were drug addicts, adding some customers were prescribed more than 2,000 prescription pills over a one-year period.

One of the physicians, Sanjay Mehta, was charged with distributing a controlled substance that caused the deaths of two patients in 2013. And in a related case, another physician was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering in a federal information document, which signals a defendant is cooperating.

Thirteen people were charged overall. The charges for the various defendants carry maximum penalties ranging from 20 to 340 years upon conviction.

The indictment is the result of a four-year investigation by nearly a dozen federal, state and local agencies.