Stafford Ex-Doctor Indicted for Running Deadly "Pill Mill"

A doctor in Stafford who allegedly ran an illegal “pill mill” for more than 100 patients, leading to one patient’s fatal overdose, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Alexandria.

Nibedita Mohanty, 56, of Stafford, reportedly issued hundreds of patients excessive prescriptions for addictive drugs she was explicitly told would be abused, distributed and resold, a grand jury concluded Thursday.

Mohanty worked as a physician and served as Chief of Medicine at Stafford Hospital from June 2009 to February 2013, according to the indictment. Representing herself as a doctor operating a chronic pain management practice, she reportedly distributed controlled substances such as oxycodone, fentanyl and morphine, “often for excessive dosages,” to patients outside her medical field in exchange for cash sums.

She allegedly prescribed narcotic pills to patients who had previously been jailed for selling controlled substances and even to a patient who she knew would later sell the drugs to pay for another patient’s bond.

Despite a letter from another doctor warning that one patient had a history of painkiller addiction, Mohanty allegedly issued her prescriptions for OcyContin, Perocet and Dilaudid, according to the indictment. The patient was later hospitalized for an overdose, after which Mohanty reportedly discharged her and prescribed more painkillers less than two weeks later. The patient died of an oxycodone overdose the following day.

She was arrested in May 2013 after an investigation by the Stafford County Sheriff’s Department, the Virginia State Police and the FBI.

Mohanty was indicted on 45 counts total, including one count of participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances; one count of distributing and dispensing a controlled substance resulting in the death of a patient; two counts of distributing and dispensing controlled substances resulting in serious bodily injury (nonfatal overdoses); 38 counts of distributing and dispensing controlled substances; two counts of aiding and abetting health care fraud; and one count of aiding and abetting money laundering.

If convicted, Mohanty faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison, and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a $10 million fine, if she is convicted of the major drug trafficking charge relating to the death of a patient after consuming oxycodone.