Bristol Physician’s Assistant Charged In Federal Investigation

A local physician’s assistant has been swept up in a federal probe into an alleged pill mill that operated at a group of urgent care centers.

Physician’s Assistant Debra Cortez, 56, of Bristol, was charged Wednesday for maintaining a drug-involved premises, according to U.S. Attorney William McSwain.

In addition to Cortez, Dr. Mehdi Nikparvar-Fard, 49, of Penn Valley; Dr. Vincent Thompson, 70, of Elkins Park; Dr. Loretta Brown, 65, of Landsowne; Dr. Avrom Brown, 70, of Elkins Park; Dr. Frederick Reichle, 83, of Warrington; Dr. Marcus Rey Williams, 70, of Coatesville; Dr. William Demedio, 58, of Springfield; Dr. Neil Cutler, 77, of Warminster; Physician’s Assistant Mitchell White, 33, of Philadelphia; Physician’s Assistant Jason Dillinger, 40, of West Chester; Physician’s Assistant Samantha Hollis, 42, of Wilmington; and Office Manager Joanne Rivera, 35, of Pennsauken, were charged. Each defendant was charged with maintaining a drug-involved premises, and five defendants – Nikparvar-Fard, Rivera, Dillinger, Thompson, and White – were charged with conspiring to unlawfully distribute controlled substances.

Federal prosecutors announced at a press conference that they also charged Dr. Murray Soss, 78, of Philadelphia, and Dr. Frederick Reichle, 83, of Warrington, with conspiracy to distribute and dispense oxycodone, outside the usual course of practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose. Soss was also charged with seven counts of distributing oxycodone and seven counts of health care fraud.

The scheme, according to federal authorities, involved the distribution of “controlled substances outside the course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.” The defendants in the case worked for Advanced Urgent Care, a company that had locations in Philadelphia and Montgomery County, a press release said.

Advanced Urgent Care opened a location in Middletown for a short period before offloading it. The former Bucks County location is not listed by federal prosecutors as being connected to the charges announced on Wednesday.

“As alleged in the indictment, Soss hired Reichle to write oxycodone prescriptions for Soss’s pain management patients after Soss’s Pennsylvania medical license was suspended in April 2017. Soss and Reichle charged the patients a fee to obtain oxycodone prescriptions, written by Reichle, that were not medically necessary. At times, Soss allegedly collected $2,500 in exchange for accepting a new patient for the sole purpose of that patient obtaining Schedule II narcotics. The indictment further states that Reichle provided oxycodone prescriptions to one of Soss’s patients without this patient being present, and claims Soss was engaged in a sexual relationship with this same patient.  It further states that Soss obtained oxycodone prescriptions in Soss’s name and then distributed the prescriptions to this patient in exchange for sexual favors,” the press release stated.

Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent In Charge Jonathan A. Wilson said the defendants arrested were “accused of setting up and operating a scheme in which the defendants sold opioid prescriptions to individuals without any legitimate medical need or purpose in exchange for cash.  The defendants issued 3,678 prescriptions which amount to hundreds of thousands of pills being used by addicted individuals.”

“Our country is in the midst of a deadly drug epidemic, and our District is, in many ways, ground zero in combating this crisis,” said McSwain. “As alleged in these indictments, thousands of illegally prescribed pills flooded our streets because of the conduct of these defendants.  My office will continue to do its part to enforce our nation’s drug laws and hold physicians, physician’s assistants, and their agents accountable.  As these indictments show, medical professionals who violate their oaths and exploit their patients’ addictions to make an easy buck will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The investigation involved federal, state, and local law enforcement.