Doctors to jail for fradulently prescribing addiction-treating drugs

March 30--Two Scranton-based doctors received jail sentences Wednesday for having untrained staff members write drug prescriptions while submitting false insurance claims showing the physicians performed the services.

Lackawanna County President Judge Michael Barrasse sentenced Chethan V. Byadgi, M.D., 53, of Milford, and Rajaa Nebbari, M.D., 45, of Scranton, to 9 to 23 months in county jail followed by 12 years of probation. The judge also ordered them to repay nearly $200,000 in restitution and complete 1,000 hours of community service.

Licenses suspended

Both doctors' medical licenses have been suspended for three years, said attorney Jody Kalinowski, who represented Nebbari. The judge also banned the pair from participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs as providers for five years.

Agents from the state attorney general's office arrested the pair in October 2015.

On Wednesday, the physicians, who worked at walk-in clinics in Scranton, addressed the judge before receiving their sentences. Speaking quietly and wearing a dark suit, Byadgi said he was "really sorry for the whole incident."

'I'm sorry'

Her dark hair dyed bright blond, Nebbari's voice wavered with emotion as she also apologized.

"I'm sorry I failed to behave like a physician," she said.

The judge had previously rejected a plea deal between the doctors and the attorney general's office, which prosecuted. Judge Barrasse gave the doctors the option to withdraw their guilty pleas, but they decided to move forward anyway with their guilty pleas to the felonies of conspiracy to commit unentitled reimbursement, theft by deception and insurance fraud.

The drug the doctors fraudulently prescribed was suboxone, used to help wean addicts off opioids such as heroin.

Judge Barrasse, who oversees the county's drug treatment courts and has been a vocal proponent of the fight against the opioid epidemic, said he rejected the deal because the doctor's sentences need to be, in part, a deterrent for others who might consider committing the same crime against vulnerable addicts.

"You had the ability to intervene in their lives and to make their life better," he told the doctors before sentencing. "Neither one of you took that responsibility."

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