Glenside resident pleads guilty to illegally distributing controlled substances and filing false tax returns

On Tuesday, September 28th, Glenside resident Dr. Padnes, M.D. entered a plea of guilty before United States District Court Judge Gene E.K. Pratter on criminal charges of illegally distributing controlled substances and filing false tax returns.

The criminal indictment, charged Dr. Padnes with illegally prescribing Schedule II controlled substances, oxycodone and methadone, on seven occasions between December 21, 2015 and June 29, 2016, without any medical necessity and outside the usual course of medical practice. It also charged that Padnes underreported the income earned by his medical practice to the I.R.S. by more than $700,000 for calendar years 2012, 2013, and 2014. To avoid a possible sentence of 149 years’ imprisonment for this crime, has agreed to pay $301,219 in restitution to the IRS.

Padnes has also agreed to pay $2 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by the United States seeking penalties and damages against him. The settlement resolves allegations that Padnes prescribed opioids without a legitimate medical purpose in violation of the Controlled Substances Act and False Claims Act (the “Civil Action”). Padnes also is barred from participating in the Medicare program for at least ten years.

Numerous examples cited by the government allege Padnes regularly prescribed the equivalent of over 1,000 milligrams of morphine per day to certain patients in exchange for money. In one case, the government alleges that Dr. Padnes issued prescriptions for so many opioids to a patient that the patient would have needed to consume nearly 70 pills, the equivalent of 4,000 milligrams of morphine, every day. To put that in perspective, the CDC urges caution when patients are prescribed more than the equivalent of 50 milligrams of morphine per day and should usually not be prescribed greater than the equivalent of 90 milligrams of morphine a day.