White Plains Doctor Sentenced for Prescribing Addictive Opioids
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A White Plains doctor was sentenced Thursday in Manhattan Federal Court to four years in prison for prescribing addictive narcotics for patients with no medical purpose.
Marc Laruelle, 65, a licensed doctor specializing in psychiatry, was also ordered by Federal Court Judge Denise Cote to pay $168,027 in forfeiture. He could have faced up to 20 years behind bars.
Last October, Laruelle, a resident of Yonkers, pled guilty to one count of distributing Oxycodone, among other narcotics, without a legitimate medical purpose while acting outside the usual course of professional practice.
“Marc Laruelle abused his medical license and violated the oath of his profession when he prescribed more than 100,000 doses of a highly potent and addictive opioid without a legitimate medical need,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “As this case makes clear, we will aggressively prosecute physicians who are contributing to the national opioid crisis. Laruelle now awaits sentencing for his crime.”
According to the indictment, between Sept. 2016 and Oct. 2021, Laruelle prescribed more than 100,000 doses of Oxycodone without a legitimate medical purpose outside of the usual course of professional practice. Oxycodone is a highly potent and addictive opioid that commands high prices in the black market because of demand by drug abusers.
Laruelle often prescribed Oxycodone in combination with Xanax (alprazolam) and/or Adderall (amphetamine), controlled substances that are frequently abused and resold illicitly. He also failed to perform proper physical examinations or medical tests prior to prescribing Oxycodone to his patients. He charged patients as much as $800 per prescription and prescribed large amounts of Oxycodone with the understanding that the quantity would be resold in the black market.
His scheme was derailed in late 2021 when he prescribed opioids to an undercover agent.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
