Montco Doc Charged In $5 Million Cash For Drugs Scheme: U.S. Attorney

Three Philadelphia-area doctors, including one from Ambler, have been indicted in a $5 million prescription drugs for cash scheme, the United States Attorney Zane David Memeger announced Wednesday.

According to the indictment, which was filed Wednesday, the following doctors are implicated in the cash for drugs scheme: Alan Summers, 78, of Ambler; Azad Khan, 63, of Villanova; and Dr. Keyhosrow Parsia, 79, of Ridley Park.

The three are charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, health care fraud and money laundering.

Authorities allege Summers operated a medical clinic on South Broad Street in Philadelphia, ironically called the National Association for Substance Abuse-Prevention & Treatment.

It was at that clinic where Summers employed numerous other doctors, including Khan and Parsia.

The three men sold prescriptions for Suboxone, a drug used to treat opiate addition, and Klonopin in exchange for cash, Memeger said. The substances were often sold to drug dealers or drug addicts who sold the medications, authorities say.

More than $5 million worth of controlled substances were sold during the duration of the scheme, the indictment alleges. Authorities did not say when the investigation began.

"None of the defendants conducted medical examinations or mental health examinations as required by law in order to legally prescribe these controlled substances," according to a statement from Memeger's office.

Summers also assisted his customers in getting their health insurance benefits to pay for the illegally-prescribed drugs by providing false information, the indictment alleges.

“We have a public health crisis in this county involving prescription drug abuse that is exacerbated by doctors like these defendants,” said Memeger. “Every doctor who abandons his or her ethics to engage in the prescription-for-pay culture is breaking the law. They need to ask themselves whether it is worth the money to put people in danger, to risk the loss of their medical licenses, and to lose their freedom. Our office will continue to investigate and prosecute those individuals whose unscrupulous and illegal conduct contributes to this deadly epidemic.”

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, with assistance from the Philadelphia Police Department and the Pennsylvania Bureau of Narcotics Investigations.

It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert Livermore.