Source: US FBI
Defendant prescribed combinations of highly addictive benzodiazepines and stimulants
BOSTON – A Worcester psychiatrist was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for illegally prescribing controlled substances.
Mohamad Och, 69, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman to four years of probation and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine. In November 2023, Och was convicted following an 11-day jury trial of three counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance.
Och was a licensed psychiatrist who owned and operated Island Counseling Center (ICC), in Worcester, Mass., and has practiced psychiatry elsewhere in Massachusetts, including Nantucket. Among other services, Och was authorized to prescribe Schedule II-IV controlled substances to patients.
Och repeatedly prescribed a combination of benzodiazepines and stimulants outside of the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose. Specifically, on multiple occasions between August 2016 and February 2017, Och knowingly issued prescriptions for Adderall (a Schedule II amphetamine) and Xanax (a Schedule IV benzodiazepine) to undercover federal agents. Evidence at trial showed that amphetamines have a high potential for abuse and present serious cardiovascular risks. Evidence also showed the risks presented by mixing Xanax, a depressant, with a stimulant like Adderall.
Och prescribed such highly-addictive medications without doing proper psychiatric examinations, without obtaining prior medical records, and without administering diagnostic tests (including urinalyses or blood tests) – even when faced with facts that the undercover patients may have been participating in drug diversion. Furthermore, the defendant did not discuss or review medication side effects, their conditions’ symptoms, or the risks and benefits of taking drugs like Adderall and Xanax with the undercover agents – despite documenting in medical records that he had done so.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Jarod A. Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Special Agent in Charge Roberto Coviello of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John T. Mulcahy and Kaitlin R. O’Donnell of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.