A former certified registered nurse practitioner from western Pennsylvania, Joseph G. Sapp, was sentenced last Thursday to 11.5 to 23 months in jail. He will be followed up with 8 years probation for his role in writing fraudulent Oxycodone prescriptions, as announced by Attorney General Michelle Henry. Sapp, 56, was found guilty on multiple charges, including possession with intent to deliver, Medicaid fraud, and forgery.
According to an announcement from theOffice of the Attorney General, a collaborative investigation uncovered Sapp s activities, which spanned multiple counties, including Westmoreland, Allegheny, Fayette, and Washington, where he wrote prescriptions that were not only intended for himself but also sold to others for personal gain, circumventing professional boundaries and exacerbating the opioid crisis gripping the nation.
During the investigation, overseen by the Office of the Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigations and Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Sapp admitted to engaging in Medicaid fraud by submitting false claims for unnecessary prescriptions, forging prescriptions, and illegally picking up these prescriptions using false identities. “The defendant had a professional responsibility to prescribe medications for people in need, and instead, betrayed his duties by contributing to the opioid epidemic and expanding access to Oxycodone,”Attorney General Henrystated in the aftermath of Sapp’s admission of guilt.
The extensive investigation received support from several local agencies, including the Penn Township Police Department, the Westmoreland County Drug Task Force, the Westmoreland County Sheriff s Office, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), all contributing to the unveiling of Sapp’s fraudulent scheme which capitalized on the suffering of others to benefit oneself at the cost of public health and trust. The case was eventually brought to a close by Senior Deputy Attorney General Thomas R. Grace and Senior Deputy Attorney General Edward Song, who prosecuted the case and affirmed the resolve to hold medical professionals to the highest standard of law.
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