Mudassar Sharif, MD, has been hit with a federal indictment claiming he was running a "pill mill" operation, according to the Department of Justice.
Dr. Sharif was charged with illegally dispensing prescription pills through Kearny, N.J.-based Garden State Primary Care, which he owned. He was also charged with attempting to set fire to the building in which his medical practice is located, according to the DOJ.
A criminal complaint filed against Dr. Sharif alleges he has been providing medically unnecessary prescriptions to a cooperating witness since November 2012, including oxycodone prescriptions once a month.
The complaint alleges Dr. Sharif provided the cooperating witness with prescriptions written out to several names the witness provided and sold oxycodone pills to the witness as well. The complaint claims Dr. Sharif charged $15 per oxycodone pill and $3,000 per prescription.
Dr. Sharif also allegedly asked the cooperating witness to burn down the building his medical practice was located in "because he was having an issue with Medicare or Medicaid," according to the DOJ. Even when the cooperating witness told Dr. Sharif "the whole building would go up in flames" and that a disabled woman who lived near the office would be dead, he still wanted to go through with the plan.
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