Ex-Doctor Pleads Guilty For Illegally Prescribing Oxycodone

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — A former doctor from Amityville pleaded guilty on Monday via teleconference for illegally distributing oxycodone prescriptions, according to the United States attorney.

As part of his plea deal, 52-year-old Tameshwar Ammar, a former medical doctor in Roslyn, agreed to forfeit $245,700 of proceeds involved in the oxycodone offense and previously relinquished his license to practice medicine, the U.S. attorney said.

Between between 2013 and 2019, Ammar illegally prescribed thousands of highly addictive oxycodone pills to two people identified as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2. According to a review of his medical files for the two men, Ammar wrote the prescriptions without any diagnostic proof that either had a legitimate medical necessity.

He first prescribed oxycodone pills to John Doe 1, knowing that he was going to sell the pills to others. Ammar also prescribed oxycodone as well as methadone to John Doe 2, even though he knew that John Doe 2 had been admitted to a psychiatric facility in March 2018. In July 2019, John Doe 2 died of a drug overdose caused by oxycodone, methadone and ketamine.

After his arrest on Nov. 7, 2019, Ammar was ordered by the court to surrender his DEA registration.

"Today’s guilty plea establishes that the defendant, who was a doctor, essentially acted as a drug dealer, spreading injury and addiction without regard for the consequences," Acting United States Attorney Seth DuCharme said. "This office and our partners at the DEA are working tirelessly to combat the opioid epidemic on Long Island and elsewhere, including by prosecuting medical professionals who betray their oath to do no harm."

When sentenced, Ammar faces up to 20 years in prison.