A New Jersey doctor has been charged with writing tens of thousands of opioid prescriptions in exchange for sexual favors, as well as defrauding Medicaid by billing for visits that never actually took place, according to federal prosecutors.
Ritesh Kalra, 51, of Secaucus, is accused of operating a pill mill out of his medical office in Fair Lawn, where he allegedly prescribed high-dose opioids to patients struggling with addiction but without a legitimate medical purpose.
The prescriptions included promethazine with codeine and oxycodone, a powerful opioid painkiller with a high risk of addiction and abuse, court documents show.
According to investigators, the internist wrote more than 31,000 oxycodone prescriptions between January 2019 and February 2025 — including days when he wrote more than 50 of them.
Some female patients told several of Kalra’s former employees that they were touched inappropriately and coerced into sexual acts to obtain their prescriptions, according to the criminal complaint.
“One patient described being sexually assaulted by Kalra on multiple occasions, including forced anal sex during clinical appointments,” prosecutors said.
Instead of offering help to people battling addiction, Kalra “exploited his victims at their most vulnerable — using opioids as leverage in exchange for sexual favors — further deepening their addiction and worsening the [opioid] crisis,” DEA New York Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino said in a statement.
Kalra is also accused of billing Medicaid for in-person visits and counseling sessions that never actually happened. As part of the fraud scheme, his electronic medical records allegedly included false progress notes listing fabricated dates of service, as well as exam notes that were “generally identical from visit to visit and did not record vital signs,” prosecutors claim.
On Friday, U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced Kalra had been charged with three counts of distributing opioids outside of the usual course of professional practice, for illegitimate medical purposes and in exchange for sexual favors, along with two counts of health care fraud.
Kalra appeared in Newark federal court on Thursday and was released to home incarceration on a $100,000 unsecured bond. He’s barred from practicing medicine and must close his practice during the case.
A request for comment from Kalra’s lawyer was not immediately answered Saturday.
from New York Daily News https://ift.tt/cUgJN0C
via IFTTT
Comments
Post a Comment