A Crescent Springs dentist is one of two Kentucky doctors named and charged in a federal opioid sting.
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced criminal charges against 14 individuals in eight federal districts across the U.S. for their alleged involvement with opioid-related crimes, including over-prescribing patients.
Among them was Jay Sadrinia, a dentist practicing at Tristate Dental in Crescent Springs. According to the justice department, Sardinia is charged with unlawfully prescribing morphine.
“In August 2020, this dentist issued three opioid prescriptions to a 24-year-old patient in a five-day period,” according to the department’s announcement. “The patient died from a morphine overdose, allegedly from one of the prescriptions the dentist issued during those five days.”
An unnamed Kentucky doctor was charged for unlawfully prescribing opioids to patients on Medicare and Medicaid.
“The defendant allegedly preyed on these patients for continued access in order to bill these programs for medically unnecessary procedures,” the release states.
The charges were part of a larger operation combating opioid distribution in the area, called the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid (ARPO) Strike Force.
ARPO investigates cases in Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee and West Virginia, The agency has charged more than 100 defendants with opioid-related crimes over the last three years, who have allegedly distributed an estimated 115 million pills to patients combined.
“Doctors and health care professionals are entrusted with prescribing medicine responsibly and in the best interests of their patients. Today’s takedown targets medical providers across the country whose greed drove them to abandon this responsibility in favor of criminal profits,” said Administrator Anne Milgram of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “DEA will use every tool at our disposal to stop drug diversion and fraud. And we are working tirelessly each day to make our communities safer and healthier.”
Kentuckians struggling with addiction can find help by calling 833-8KY-HELP or logging in at Findhelpnowky.org.