A doctor from South Setauket with an office in Centereach is the latest Long Island physician accused of illegally prescribing prescription painkillers to patients who authorities say didn’t need them.
Dr. Michael Randall appeared at Central Islip federal court Wednesday to face a charge of illegal distribution of a controlled substance.
“By prescribing thousands of highly addictive pain pills without a legitimate medical purpose, Dr. Randall ignored the law and his own patients’ well-being,” Loretta Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a news release.
Prosecutors said the 47-year-old doctor, who runs Middle Country Family Medical, wrote hundreds of prescriptions for oxycodone, oxymorphone, methadone and carisoprodol to patients for no legitimate medical purpose between January 2009 and September 2013.
Randall surrendered to investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Tactical Diversion Squad, which has rounded up dozens of other suspects, including several doctors, in similar cases in recent years amid a crackdown on prescription drug abuse.
Randall faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, if convicted.
