INITIAL REPORT (April 5)
A Greene County doctor on Tuesday pleaded guilty to a bill of information on seven charges, including felony drugs, for running a “pill mill” at his office between 2009 and 2014, according to court documents.
Dr. John P. Moore II, who was indicted in September 2015, will be sentenced in May 26 may not serve any time behind bars.
He was originally indicted on 44 counts related to improper prescription drug activity at his office at Synergistic Health Center. Charges at the time included conspiracy, theft, aggravated trafficking in drugs and forgery after a two-year investigation and June 2014 raid of his offices. Nearly $100,000 was reportedly seized from Moore at the time.
Prosecutors on Tuesday reduced the charges to seven counts as a result of a plea agreement. In exchange for Moore’s guilty plea and agreeing to pay more than $80,000 in restitution and other fees, the state dropped 37 of the charges and will not “pursue any collateral matters such as a civil restitution matter,” according to a court document.
“At sentencing the state will not oppose or criticize defendant’s request for community control,” the plea agreement stated. The maximum term for the crimes Moore pleaded guilty to is eight years in prison.
The severn charges Moore pleaded guilty to are Medicaid fraud, permitting drug abuse, theft and four counts of drug trafficking.
“In addition to this indictment, we filed 32 additional drug indictments (for unrelated cases) this week,” said Greene County Prosecutor Stephen K. Haller said at the time of the indictment. “Clearly, Greene County has a serious drug problem. Some of those cases have been investigated for months. Most of our cases involved property related felonies to help supply the drug addiction.
“The dealers and the pill mill operators need to be prosecuted; they need to be prosecuted hard.”
Haller said a special prosecutor was assigned to Moore’s case by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Moore voluntarily reported to the Sugarcreek Twp. police department to be fingerprinted and photographed.
“We don’t have any statement,” Moore said at the time. “We just had some information to give to the detective. We gave it to him, and we’re glad to help.”
The indictment described Moore as a prior convicted felon who was sentenced Oct. 7, 2002, for an illegal scheme to defraud health care programs.
The indictment also indicated that the Ohio State Medical Board voted to permanently revoke Moore’s medical license, but then stayed the decision and imposed a two-year suspension. The document said Moore’s license to practice was reinstated in February 2009 and that he was released from medical board probation in March 2012.
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