Catskill Physician Pleads Guilty to Illegal Distribution of Opioids,
Health Care Fraud, Aggravated Identity Theft, and Obstruction of Justice
Myra Mabry Wrote Prescriptions For No Legitimate Purpose
ALBANY, NEW YORK – Myra Mabry, 50, of Catskill, New York, pled guilty yesterday before United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino to conspiring to distribute controlled substances, health care fraud, aggravated identity theft, and obstruction of justice.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan, United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Division.
As part of her guilty plea, Mabry, an obstetrician-gynecologist, admitted that between 2015 and 2017, she wrote numerous prescriptions for oxycodone, morphine, and hydromorphone to third parties, for no legitimate medical purpose, and then instructed a co-conspirator to fill those prescriptions by impersonating the named patients at pharmacies, knowing that health care benefit programs would pay the cost of the drugs. In pleading guilty, Mabry also admitted that she attempted to obstruct the federal investigation into her activities by instructing a co-conspirator to falsely testify before a federal grand jury that she (Mabry) was the subject of extortion. As Mabry admitted in her guilty plea, she was not the subject of an extortionate scheme, and was a willing member of the conspiracy to distribute opioids for no legitimate medical purpose. Mabry further admitted that she had agreed to pay her co-conspirator for false testimony in the hope of minimizing her criminal exposure and keeping her medical license.
As a result of her conviction, Mabry faces a mandatory 2-year term of imprisonment on the aggravated identity theft charge, and up to 20 years in prison on the remaining charges when she is sentenced on December 4, 2019 in Albany. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.
This case is being investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), with assistance from the New York State Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne A. Myers.