A Pennsylvania family doctor is charged with illegally doling out opioids to a patient in exchange for sex — with the alleged scheme running for a full year, federal prosecutors announced.
Emilio Ramon Navarro, 58, was hit with a 29-count indictment Monday accusing him of dispensing oxymorphone and oxycodone to a patient identified only as “A.W.” for sexual favors, “either physically or by electronic communications,” the US Attorney’s Office in Pennsylvania said in a release.
Navarro, who ran a private clinic in Perryopolis, was also charged with filing false Medicaid claims to cover the cost of the drugs, the release said.
Prosecutors said the drugs-for-sex exchange went on from April 2018 to April of this year.
Navarro was arrested Monday morning and charged with unlawfully dispensing controlled substances and health care fraud. He was ordered held without bail by a federal judge.
He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine on the controlled substance charges, and up to 10 years and a $250,000 on the fraud charge, according to prosecutors.