Doctor Pleads Guilty In Manhattan Federal Court To Illegal Distribution of Oxycodone From Brooklyn Clinic
NEW YORK - Today, Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Leigh-Alistair Barzey, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Field Office of the U.S. Department of Defense - Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (“DCIS”), and Dermot Shea, Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced that DMITRY DONSKY, a doctor who practiced in New York, pled guilty today to an Information charging him with conspiring to illegally distribute large quantities of oxycodone from a medical clinic in Brooklyn, New York. DONSKY pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty in Manhattan federal court.
DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan said: “Dr. Donsky’s plea is evidence that he knows the difference between right and wrong. As a trusted medical professional he betrayed his patients, their loved ones, and his community. I commend our law enforcement partners, and the Southern District of New York, for their diligent efforts identifying, investigating, and prosecuting this case.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As he admitted in court today, Dmitry Donsky violated the oath of his profession and broke the law by peddling more than half a million oxycodone pills to ‘patients’ he knew had no medical need for them. Now he awaits sentencing for his crime.”
DCIS Special Agent in Charge Leigh-Alistair Barzey said: “The risks created by the improper prescription of oxycodone are well documented and tragically real. Today’s guilty plea is the result of a joint effort and demonstrates the DCIS’s ongoing commitment to work with the
U.S. Attorney’s Office, the DEA, and other law enforcement partners, to protect U.S. military members and their dependents from the dangers posed by medical professionals who illegally prescribe oxycodo
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said: “Our work here stopped a doctor who betrayed his oath to victimize vulnerable New Yorkers. The case highlights the NYPD’s continuing fight, with our law enforcement partners, against this ongoing epidemic.”
According to the allegations contained in the Information and statements made during today’s plea proceeding:
DONSKY, a licensed physician, practiced at a medical clinic in Brooklyn. From 2014 to 2019, despite specializing in internal medicine and pediatrics, DONSKY illicitly prescribed over 500,000 oxycodone 30-milligram pills to individuals he knew had no legitimate medical need for the pills. DONSKY often performed little or no physical examination on purported patients receiving the illicit oxycodone prescriptions. Patients received as many as 360 oxycodone 30-milligram pills each month, and several patients even received duplicate monthly prescriptions of oxycodone from DONSKY.
DONSKY, 60, of Marlboro, New Jersey, pled guilty to one count of narcotics distribution conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentence for the defendant will be determined by the judge.
DONSKY is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Crotty on October 22, 2020.
Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of DCIS and the DEA’s New York Tactical Diversion Squad, which comprises agents and officers from the DEA, the NYPD, the New York State Police, New York State Department of Financial Services, New York National Guard, New York City Department of Investigation, and New York State Department of Health Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. Ms. Strauss also thanked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General for its assistance.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Juliana N. Murray is in charge of the prosecution.
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