Statewide Opioid Crackdown: These 24 NJ Doctors Got Into Trouble

NEW JERSEY – Twenty-four New Jersey doctors and a nurse have now run into trouble because of inappropriate use or distribution of opioids over the past year, according to state officials (see list below). Two doctors faced additional sanctions in recent weeks.

A former doctor who practiced medicine in Manahawkin, and who had been convicted of illegally distributing opioids has been banned from prescribing drugs in New Jersey, the state Office of Attorney General recently announced.

Liviu T. Holca practiced family medicine in Manahawkin. Holca was initially arrested in 2014 for distributing opioid painkillers with no medical justification, the OAG said.

Holca pleaded guilty in 2016 to illegal drug distribution and money laundering. He was sentenced to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service and was forced to forfeit $291,919 from his bank accounts, the OAG said. He was initially banned from practicing medicine in 2014.

Read more: Ex-Stafford Doc Loses Prescription License For Opioid Conviction

Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal also announced this past week that a Passaic County doctor was charged with selling prescriptions for highly addictive prescription painkillers without a legitimate medical purpose.

Mahesh Mehta, 65, who practices family medicine in Paterson, was indicted on a charge of second-degree unlawful dispensing of controlled dangerous substances. The indictment was handed up by a state Grand Jury in Trenton.

Mehta allegedly sold prescriptions for Percocet, a Schedule II opioid pain medication, according to a release from the Office of Attorney General.

The sanctions and arrests come a year after Grewal launched a new office to lead the attorney general's statewide crackdown the opioid crisis: the New Jersey Coordinator for Addiction Responses and Enforcement Strategies, or NJ CARES.

Since then, the OAG has successfully petitioned the State Board of Medical Examiners to suspend or revoke the professional licenses of at least two dozen prescribers who have "recklessly disregarded their professional and ethical obligations, or subjected them to other professional discipline," the OAG said.

These licensure actions are often taken on an emergency basis to stem the flow of opioids to patients and other users, the OAG said.

Here are other doctors who are facing or have faced sanctions:

"El Chapo of Opioids"

Robert Delagente, 45, of Oakland, the so-called "El Chapo of Opioids," was charged recently with one count of distribution of controlled dangerous substances and one count of obstruction of justice, according to U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito.

Beginning in May 2014, Delagente was a doctor at a medical practice called North Jersey Family Medicine (NJFM) in Oakland, according to a news release from Carpenito. He allegedly described himself in conversations pertaining to his prescribing of painkillers as the “Candy Man” and the "El Chapo of Opioids."

Read more: Oakland's 'Candy Man' Prescribed Drugs For No Reason: US Attorney

Delagente knowingly prescribed controlled substances, such as oxycodone, Percocet, Tylenol with codeine, and various benzodiazepines (alprazolam, diazepam, clonazepam, and temazepam), outside the ordinary course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose., according to the release.

Delagente failed to monitor patients for addiction and ignored drug screening tests to determine whether certain patients were taking illicit drugs, according to the release.

In one instance, an NJFM employee allegedly texted Delagente that a patient had gotten a babysitter and driven a long distance to get to the practice, but had been unable to see a doctor.

Delagente responded: “Oh well … C’est la vie! Lol … He can wait for his oral heroin another day. Lol,” according to the release.

NJ Doctors Busted In Massive $800 Million Opioid Takedown

Two doctors are in trouble because of their alleged roles in a fraud ring that resulted in $800 million in losses and involved more than 3.25 million pills of opioids in "pill mill" clinics and doctors' offices, authorities recently announced.

The September takedown included new charges and convictions against 54 defendants for their roles in submitting nearly $800 million in fraudulent claims made to federal payers, including 15 doctors or medical professionals, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office release. More than 20 defendants are charged for their roles in diverting opioids.

Doctors, marketing executives, pharmacists and the owners and operators of a genetic testing laboratory have been charged with, or have pleaded guilty to a range of criminal conduct, including: the criminal prescription of highly-addictive opioid pills to patients with no medical need, the paying of kickbacks and other crimes.

The charges involve individuals contributing to the opioid epidemic, including medical professionals involved in the unlawful distribution of opioids and other prescription narcotics, the release said.

Read more: More NJ Doctors Busted In Massive $800 Million Opioid Takedown

Ear, nose and throat specialist in drug ring

Beecher was sentenced to 10 years in state prison last month after pleading guilty to second-degree charges of conspiracy and distribution of oxycodone.

The charges were the result of “Operation Busted Script,” an investigation by the Attorney General’s Prescription Fraud Investigation Strike Team, a team of detectives and attorneys in the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau that targets corrupt healthcare professionals and “pill mills.”

Read more: Doctor Faces Jail, 7 Others In Statewide NJ Opioid Drug Ring

The investigation revealed that Beecher, in order to supply the drug ring, wrote prescriptions without a legitimate medical purpose for tens of thousands of 30 mg oxycodone pills in the names of people he never examined, treated, or even met, according to the release.

Warren County Doctor Prescribed “Subsys”

The state Board of Medical Examiners recently revoked the license of a Warren County doctor after he allegedly placed patients at risk by prescribing the tightly-restricted cancer pain medication “Subsys,” according to the Office of Attorney General.

These patients did not meet the criteria for receiving the powerful opioid painkiller even though Kenneth P. Sun accepted more than $100,000 from the drug’s maker, Insys Therapeutics Inc., to push the medication, according to an OAG release.

Sun, a pain management practitioner in Phillipsburg, prescribed an opioid despite restrictions placed on Subsys, a potent under-the-tongue opioid spray approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, according to the OAG release.

The drug treats breakthrough pain in cancer patients already receiving, and tolerant to, around-the-clock opioid therapy for their underlying cancer pain. Prescribing Subsys outside its approved parameters exposes patients to grave risks, including the risk of a fatal overdose, according to the release.

Sun is also among numerous doctors nationwide who accepted payments from Insys – in the form of speaking and consulting fees – that were, in reality, cash incentives to promote prescriptions of Subsys beyond its approved parameters, according to the release.

“We cannot end the opioid crisis unless we crack down on doctors who put profit over patient care,” said Grewal. “Dr. Sun pushed a dangerous opioid painkiller on patients who didn’t need it and weren’t approved to receive it. The revocation of Dr. Sun’s license is simply the latest in a growing list of actions we are taking against the doctors who have fueled this public health crisis.”

Bergen County Loses License For Indiscriminately Prescribing Opioid Painkillers

The state Board of Medical Examiners recently and permanently suspended the license of a Bergen County doctor for indiscriminately prescribing highly addictive opioid painkillers to patients for years, despite "clear signs" they were misusing the drugs or diverting them for illegal purposes, according to the OAG.

Eric Thomas, 44, who practiced internal medicine in North Arlington, allegedly prescribed large amounts of Oxycodone, OxyContin, morphine and other controlled dangerous substances without a legitimate medical purpose to seven patients he treated between January 2012 and May 2015.

Toms River Doctor Temporarily Barred From Prescribing Pain Meds

A Toms River doctor who specializes in pain management has been temporarily suspended from prescribing medication after an investigation that showed he had prescribed opioids to patients who told him they had sold pills.

Bruce M. Coplin, a physiatrist whose office is on Hospital Drive, has been suspended from prescribing any controlled dangerous substances as of Aug. 23 by the state Board of Medical Examiners, according to the disciplinary order on file with the state. Read more here....

South Jersey Doctor's License Revoked After Patient's Death: AG

The state Board of Medical Examiners has permanently revoked the license of a South Jersey doctor it says indiscriminately prescribed a powerful spray form of the painkiller fentanyl to three patients, killing one, Grewal announced.

The fatality is at the center of allegations leveled against the company that makes the powerful opioid-fentanyl drug Subsys and its billionaire founder, John Kapoor.

The state had previously temporarily suspended the license of Vivienne Matalon, who practices in Cherry Hill, in October of 2016, eight days after it filed a Verified Complaint

accusing her of professional misconduct and gross negligence in the indiscriminate prescription of Subsys. Read more here...

5 NJ Doctors Lose Licenses In Illegal Opioid Investigations

Five doctors were recently accused of improperly prescribing opioids, anabolic steroids, and other controlled substances to their patients in New Jersey, costing them their licenses, according to the Office of Attorney General.

The doctors include two convicted on federal charges of illegal drug distribution, according to an OAG release. Read more here...

The doctors who lost their licenses are:

• Jose J. Leyson, a Newark urologist from Long Valley
• Kevin T. Custis, a family physician in Asbury Park from Belle Meade
• William F. Mclay, a family physician in Cape May County
• Bonnie Chen, a West Caldwell internist
• Anthony Enrico, Jr., a Paterson podiatrist from North Haledon.

7 In NJ Charged In Massive Opioid, Health Care Fraud Bust

Seven people in New Jersey – including a doctor – and one in Philadelphia have been arrested in what the Justice Department is calling the "largest health care fraud and opioid enforcement action ever taken," authorities announced on Thursday.

Robert Agresti, a 61-year-old doctor from Essex Falls, recently admitted that from November 2014 through September 2017, he prescribed medically unnecessary compounded prescriptions for a company that sold them, according to authorities.

He was paid $300 cash for every prescription he authorized, regardless of it was medically necessary, authorities said. He signed prescriptions brought to him by other people involved in the scheme without examining or speaking with the patients. Multiple health benefit programs paid more than $8.9 million as a result of Agresti's phony prescriptions, authorities said. Read more here...

State Says Middlesex County Doctor Pushed Painkillers

A Middlesex County doctor had his medical license temporarily suspended recenty after a state investigation found that he indiscriminately prescribed highly addictive opioids in excessive amounts to his patients over the past year, the state alleges.

Eddie Gamao, a general practitioner in Piscataway, voluntarily agreed to temporarily surrender his license to the state Board of Medical Examiners amid allegations he gave his patients painkiller prescriptions that far exceeded the safe limits. This allegedly occurred between February 2017 and February 2018, the state Division of Consumer Affairs said. Read more here...

State Suspends Doctor Accused Of Illegally Prescribing Opioids

A Burlington County doctor who is accused of indiscriminately prescribing addictive opioid pain medications to patients has been temporarily barred from treating patients, Grewal announced.

Louis Spagnoletti, a pain management specialist in Marlton, is accused of treating patients with high doses of powerful opioids for years without justification, sometimes refilling full-month supplies multiple times a month, according to the complaint filed by the state. Read more here...