Doctor Improperly Prescribed Drugs To Bucks Co. Patients: DA

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —Despite being fired from Jefferson Health, a Bucks County doctor illegally prescribed drugs from the basement of his Middletown Township office, distributing a 30-day supply of Suboxone to 80 patients, authorities said.

Dr. Kenneth Fox, 55, of Jenkintown, Montgomery County, was charged with improperly and illegally prescribing suboxone to patients at his basement office, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.

Fox was recently fired from Jefferson Health, but was still seeing patients in the basement of the same building and used suspicious and questionable practices when seeing them, authorities learned.

Authorities charged him with 12 counts each of administration of any controlled substance by a practitioner and furnishing false or fraudulent records and three counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Fox was arraigned on Wednesday by Magisterial District Judge Charles D. Jonas and was sent to Bucks County Correctional Facility under $75,000 bail, 10 percent.

The investigation began in November 2023 after Bucks County Detectives were informed by the Middletown Township Police Department about a complaint against Fox, a doctor of osteopathic medicine with an office on Frosty Hollow Road.

Bucks County Detectives met with a patient of Fox. The patient had been seeing the doctor since late 2017 but noticed that his medical practice changed in the summer of 2023, and Fox was moved to the basement of the building.

In the basement, patients would have to wait inside a hallway where chairs were lined up. There were no appointment times, people would just show up and Fox would call out next when he wanted to see another patient.

The $130 office visit would be paid through an app on a phone, the patient told detectives.

With each office visit, the patient would receive a 30-day supply of Suboxone. During each office visit, the patient would sit on a chair and Fox would be at his desk.

After receiving payment, the doctor would submit the prescription for Suboxone.

A check with the DEA revealed that Fox was recently fined $489,025 for failing to maintain complete and accurate records of controlled substances, failing to keep required receipt and dispensing records, failing to perform biennial inventories, and writing prescriptions “for stock.”

Starting in February, detectives used confidential informants or undercover officers to visit Fox. They received Suboxone on each occasion.

Between Feb. 10 and June 4, 2024, one or all of them were e-prescribed monthly Suboxone prescriptions.

During the investigation, the undercover officers could hear Fox's other patient visits because he left his door open during the visits. At no time did they hear the doctor talk about the patient's health or discuss any issues.

Through the Pennsylvania Prescription Drug Monitor Program (PDMP), detectives discovered that Fox was prescribing Suboxone to 80 patients during the time frame of this investigation.

On June 24, detectives served a search and seizure warrant at Dr. Fox’s basement office. Detectives found incomplete patient files with most of Fox’s notes being prescriptions.