W.Va. Doctor Admits To Fraudulently Prescribing Opiates

More than 10 years after he admittedly wrote pain prescriptions with no legitimate medical purpose, a West Virginia doctor has pleaded guilty to three counts of aiding and abetting obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.

Dr. Sanjay Mehta of Shady Spring, 56, is the latest of seven physicians to plead guilty in a case linked to the HOPE pain management clinic which operated in Beckley, Beaver, Charleston and Wytheville, Virginia.  

Court records from the Southern District of West Virginia show Mehta admitted on Thursday to writing prescriptions between May and August, 2013 for oxycodone, methadone and oxycodone hydrochloride for three customers – two of whom died of opioid intoxication within days. 

“Medical professionals who cause the distribution of controlled substances not for legitimate medical purposes and not within the usual course of professional medical practice can cause significant harm to those who purchase them,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Ronald Dawkins, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Metro Washington Field Office in a press release. “This case demonstrates that we will hold accountable individuals who would compromise patient safety for personal gain by causing the unlawful distribution of Schedule II prescription medications.”

Mehta was indicted in 2018 along with others affiliated with the HOPE clinic. 

He faces up to four years in prison and a $750,000 fine. He is scheduled for sentencing later this year. 

The co-owner of the firm that operated the clinic and a co-defendant are scheduled for trial in October.