Dentist had patients and staff fill painkiller pre…

What Happened

While practicing dentistry in Pennsylvania, a dentist had patients and staff fill prescriptions for painkillers intended for his own use, feeding a drug addiction.

He pled guilty to 86 counts in 2013, and Pennsylvania's dental board suspended his license for 10 years as a result Arizona's dental board reportedly took no action against him despite being aware of the conviction.

What the Record Shows

Pled guilty to 86 counts; Pennsylvania's dental board suspended his license for 10 years

Why It Matters for Diversion Programs

This entry comes from a news source rather than a federal enforcement release, and it is recorded as reported: Had patients and staff fill prescriptions for painkillers intended for his own use to feed a drug addiction. Board and news records are a lagging indicator - by the time a licensing authority or a reporter learns of a diversion, the diversion was normally detected internally first, which makes each entry a signal that inventory reconciliation, waste observation or dispensing oversight failed earlier.

Sources

https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2023/07/06/arizona-dental-board-fails-to-hold-dentists-accountable

Case at a Glance

Setting: dental practice
Drug: painkillers
Method: Had patients and staff fill prescriptions for painkillers intended for his own use to feed a drug addiction
Status: Pled guilty to 86 counts; Pennsylvania's dental board suspended his license for 10 years

News coverage: https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2023/07/06/arizona-dental-board-fails-to-hold-dentists-accountable

No published federal, state or licensing-board record was located for this case; the link above is contemporaneous news coverage.

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Last reviewed: September 2026 · Educational content, not legal advice.

About the author

DivertGuard is built and maintained by Alex Rodriguez, MHIIM, CPhT (also known as Jesus Rodriguez) — a healthcare compliance analytics professional with more than a decade in pharmacy practice and direct responsibility for a health-system controlled substance diversion prevention program.

IHFDA Annual Conference presentations

2025 — The Rounding Revolution: A High-Tech Approach to Diversion Prevention (with Emily Spiceland, PharmD)
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2022 — Ready for My Close Up! Implementing, Maintaining, and Expanding Drug Diversion Prevention Cameras (with Jeremy Quinn, Shawn Young, and John Bailey)

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Faculty, ASHP Drug Diversion Certificate
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Credentials

MHIIM — Master of Health Informatics and Information Management, University of Tennessee Health Science Center (2019–2021)
CPhT — Certified Pharmacy Technician, with 10+ years of pharmacy practice across retail, hospice, compounding, home-health, and hospital settings

The assessment items, weighting, and case registry behind this site come from that operational background — building and running a diversion prevention program, not from vendor marketing. Every tool here is free, requires no signup, and is based on published regulatory and professional standards (DEA, Joint Commission, ASHP, CDC).

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Dentist had patients and staff fill painkiller prescriptions for his own use