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Westchester Doc Accused Of Giving Oxycodone To Drug Dealer

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Mount Vernon anesthesiologist Dr. Arnold Roth was charged with illegally selling prescriptions for oxycodone, the state attorney general’s office announced Wednesday.

The office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit executed a warrant at the 60-year-old’s home and office at 35 Central Parkway, Mount Vernon. He is charged with 11 counts of criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance and one count of fourth-degree conspiracy, both felonies, and faces up to 5½ years in state prison.

Investigators also charged Nidal Aljamal of Mahopac, who allegedly is a drug dealer who conspired with Roth to obtain 15,000 oxycodone pills, with a street value of more than $450,000, to sell in Dutchess County. Aljamal is charged with three counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a felony, and faces up to nine years in state prison.

Felony complaints were filed in Hyde Park Town Court claiming that Roth gave Aljamal, 37, and at least three people Aljamal recruited, numerous prescriptions for oxycodone. Once the prescriptions were filled, the three other people would turn over the pills to Aljamal, who paid some in money and others in oxycodone pills.

Roth issued at least 48 prescriptions to Aljamal for oxycodone pills between July 2011 and July 2012, according to court papers. Aljamal collected 8,823 30-milligram pills worth $264,690 in street value. Roth also prescribed a total of 6,210 pills to the three other people working for Aljamal, which equates to $186,300 in street value, according to the attorney general’s office. These pills were distributed between September 2011 and August 2012.

The case is being prosecuted by Regional Director Anne Jardine and Special Assistant Attorney General Christopher Borek of the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit under the supervision of Special Deputy Attorney General Monica Hickey-Martin.

The investigation was conducted by Special Investigator Peter Olsen and Senior Special Investigator Dennis Johnston, under the supervision of Supervising Special Investigator Paul Greenspan, Regional Chief Auditor Investigator John Regan and Deputy Chief Investigator Thaddeus Fisher.

The New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement provided assistance in the investigation.

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