Drug doc gets monthly payments lowered

April 01--A former cardiologist who pleaded guilty in November for his part in an illegal drug ring, has successfully petitioned the court to lower his monthly fines and court costs payments.

Dr. Claude Fanelli Jr., 57, pleaded guilty to the administration of a controlled substance and conspiracy to obtain possession of a controlled substances, both felonies.

Fanelli had been arrested in April 2013 after a grand jury determined he and others had operated an illegal prescription drug ring.

A former cardiologist at the Penn State Hershey Heart and Vascular Institute in Camp Hill who surrendered his medical license, Fanelli provided others with signed blank prescription forms. Those people used the forms to obtain oxycodone, also known as OxyContin, at area pharmacies, according to investigators. The drugs then were sold on the street for between $20 and $30 a tablet, investigators said.

Fanelli was able to avoid prison and was sentenced to 22 months on house arrest in December.

Judge Gregory M. Snyder also ordered him to pay $10,000 a month toward $250,000 in fines and court costs.

In January, Fanelli asked Snyder to modify that sentence, specifically the monthly payment.

In a petition for sentence modification, Fanelli's attorney, William Fulton, maintained Snyder did not consider Fanelli's other mandatory payments that come out of his retirement income in the sentence.

Fulton said Fanelli, who was treated for a gambling addiction after taking Mirapex for his Parkinson's disease, also owes the IRS$400,000 in back taxes, $445,000 to friends, family and associates that he borrowed while fighting his gambling addiction, court-ordered alimony payments, life insurance premiums, bank loan payments and outstanding payments for rehabilitation treatment.

Fulton said those financial obligations, coupled with the court costs and fines, exceeded Fanelli's net income and therefore his ability to pay.

On Monday, Snyder cut Fanelli's fine and court cost payments to $4,000 a month beginning in October. Snyder said Fanelli will have to come up with additional funds somewhere to be able to pay off his fines and court costs by the end of his five-year probationary sentence, which runs concurrently with his house arrest.

Contact Rick Lee at 717-495-1782.

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