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A South Asian-American doctor from Effingham, Illinois, has been sentenced to two years in prison for selling controlled substances illegally.
Naeem Mahmood Kohli, 61, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $10,500 in fines as well as $700 in special assessments, to be followed by three years of supervised release after getting out of prison. Kohli was also ordered to forfeit his office building located at 500 North Maple, in Effingham, as well as $34,419.72, as a result of his drug convictions, a release from the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced in a press release Nov. 5.
“The evidence heard by the jury and judge in this case established that Dr. Kohli abandoned his role as a medical professional for a price,” U.S. Attorney Stephen Wigginton is quoted saying in the press release. “In a community, and a nation, where medical doctors are held up as the trusted gatekeepers, Kohli, for a price, sold the keys to the pharmacy to patients with drug addictions.”
Kohli, who operated the Kohli Neurology and Sleep Center, was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in March of 2014 and went to trial in United States District Court in Benton, Illinois, January this year. After a 17-day jury trial, Kohli was found guilty on seven counts of illegally dispensing Schedule II Controlled Substances to patients who suffered from drug addiction. The jury concluded that Kohli illegally dispensed Oxycodone and Hydromorphone, both highly addictive controlled substances, outside the usual course of the medical practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.
The prosecution arose from a law enforcement investigation titled Operation Doctor Feelgood. The joint law enforcement investigation focused on “pill mills” where doctors provided prescription drugs to addicts for a fee.
The post Illinois Doctor Sentenced For Illegally Selling Drugs appeared first on News India Times.
