NYC doctor convicted of illegally giving painkillers to man who fatally overdosed

A Manhattan doctor faces life in prison after a Brooklyn federal jury convicted him of giving oxycodone to five patients, including one who died, without any legitimate medical purpose, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

After a two-week trial, the jury found Dr. Martin Tesher, 82, guilty of 10 counts of illegally prescribing oxycodone and fentanyl, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District.

Tesher faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and a maximum of life in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie, authorities said.

“Dr. Tesher dispensed opioids to patients whom he knew were abusing illegal drugs, and the tragic result was an overdose death,” U. S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue said in the release. “The jury held Dr. Tesher responsible for the part he played in fueling the opioid epidemic by abandoning his responsibilities as a medical professional and for acting as a drug dealer with a prescription pad."

The investigation was led by the Long Island Tactical Diversion Squad of the federal Drug Enforcement Division, officials said.

 According to court records, the case began with a tip from an unidentified confidential informant who had been arrested on a probation violation.

The informant’s tip was corroborated by a review of Tesher’s prescription records filed with the New York State Department Health, his office medical records and interviews with several former patients, officials said in court records.

During the trial, evidence established that between June 2013 and January 2017, Tesher, a medical doctor specializing in general family care, prescribed oxycodone and fentanyl on a continuing basis without a legitimate medical purpose to five patients, even after he learned or could reasonably believe they were addicted, the release said.

Tesher continued to prescribe oxycodone and fentanyl to Nicholas Benedetto, 27, despite indications that he was abusing those drugs. Benedetto was found dead in Staten Island of a fatal combination of oxycodone and fentanyl on March 5, 2016, two days after he had been prescribed oxycodone and fentanyl patches by Tesher, prosecutors said.

According to a government expert witness, none of the patients for whom Tesher is charged had verified medical conditions that would require the prescription of opioids such as oxycodone or fentanyl.

Investigators on the case from the Long Island Tactical Diversion squad specialize in investigating the illegal use of prescription pharmaceuticals — such as oxycodone and fentanyl — throughout the Eastern District, which also includes Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, according to DEA NY spokeswoman Erin McKenzie-Mulvey

The team on the case included DEA agents and investigators, Internal Revenue Service agents, Nassau and Suffolk police, Rockville Centre police, Port Washington police and state police. The squad also works with law enforcement in New York City.

There are similar DEA diversion units based in Manhattan, Westchester and upstate, McKenzie-Mulvey said.