Mehta, 76, was charged 3 years ago.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: The case of Dr. Pravin V. Mehta, a Niagara Falls, New York, physician who has been charged with illegal distribution of drugs and conspiracy case in a 28-count indictment in 2011, continues to drag on, as a federal judge has again agreed to one more postponement, with the hope of avoiding a trial and reaching a plea deal.
U.S. District Court Judge William Skretny granted the delay after federal prosecutors and lawyers for the man, who was known on the streets of Niagara Falls as “Dr. Feel Good,” again said they were close to a deal to settle the 28-count indictment that accuses Mehta, 76, of being at the center of a massive illegal prescription drug distribution operation, reported the Niagara Gazette.
Skretny had previously told the lawyers in the case they needed to either agree on a plea deal or get ready for trial.
Mehta, described by federal and local narcotics investigators as a prolific pill pusher, was arrested in January 2011 after a lengthy undercover probe into a flood of primarily prescription pain killers on to the Cataract City’s streets. The investigation, dubbed “Operation Whatever U Want,” also swept up 13 other individuals including some of his patients and his office staff.
They charged that Mehta illegally dispensed controlled substances, such as the pain medications Fentanyl, Hydrocodone, Oxycodone and Oxymorphone from his Main Street medical offices without “a legitimate medical purpose and not in the usual course of professional (medical) practice.”
The Gazette has previously reported that prosecutors had offered Mehta, 73, a plea deal almost two years ago but he turned the deal down, against the advice of his own defense attorneys.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.
The complaint cites ten occasions between March 2010 and September 2010, when Mehta is accused of engaging in illegal distribution of controlled drugs. In one instance, Mehta prescribed a larger number of dosage units of a controlled substance to a “patient,” an individual cooperating with the investigation, knowing that the “patient” intended to share the controlled substances with another individual who was not a Mehta patient, according to the Justice Department.