36°
Myron Rodos, of Ambler, pleaded guilty in November 2019, admitting that he illegally gave an additional 6,130 oxycodone (30 mg) pills and 3,670 methadone (10 mg) pills to patients in exchange for sex and money at his North Philadelphia "pill mill," Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said.
The charges resulted from a lengthy FBI investigation that produced audio and video recordings made by a civilian source and an undercover agent that showed Rodos prescribe medically unnecessary hydrocodone in exchange for cash, Williams said.
Additionally, female patients, who became drug addicts while under Rodos' ‘care’ reported to FBI agents that they were routinely given prescriptions from Rodos for oxycodone and other controlled substances in exchange for sexual favors, Williams said.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to stopping drug-dealing doctors like Rodos,” Williams said.
“As a physician, he was well aware of the inherently dangerous nature of the drugs he was selling. But because of his greed and sometimes to satisfy his own lecherous intentions, he took advantage of vulnerable people struggling with addiction, piling on to the enormous opioid epidemic ravaging the neighborhoods of Philadelphia.”
“It’s hard to understand how a longtime physician, trained to help and to heal people, could be this depraved,” said Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.
“Dr. Rodos used his patients’ addictions against them, readily doling out powerful opioids in exchange for money or sex acts. The FBI and our partners are doggedly working to put drug-dealing doctors like him out of business, as we battle our country’s opioid epidemic.”
Rodos was sentenced to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a fine of $300,000 by United States District Court Judge Chad F. Kenney.
“Doctors are expected to help their patients, not take advantage of them,” said Maureen Dixon, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services.
“HHS-OIG and our law enforcement partners will continue to work together to protect patients from illegally prescribed prescription drugs.”
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney M. Beth Leahy.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Cindy Shebeley
Click here to follow Daily Voice Lower Merion-Narberth and receive free news updates.
