PLATTSBURGH, NY – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the arrest of Dale T. Dudley, who is accused of mailing illegal prescriptions for the controlled substance Xanax to a former female patient in exchange for money and sexually explicit photos. Dudley was charged with two felony counts for selling prescriptions and two misdemeanors. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in state prison.
“The defendant in this case believed it was okay to use a former patient to make money and demand explicit photos in exchange for pills,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “My office will utilize the law to the fullest extent to bring to justice those who would abuse their fellow citizens for their own personal gain.”
Dudley, of New Rochelle, was arraigned before Honorable Mark J. Rogers, Plattsburgh City Court, on felony charges of two counts of Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance, a class C felony, and two counts of Wilful Violation of Health Laws, an unclassified misdemeanor. Dudley is a New York State Medicaid provider and licensed physician in the State of New York authorized to issue prescriptions for controlled substances. His former patient is a Medicaid recipient.
According to the complaint, Dudley treated the former patient from December 2007 until May 2008 for a heroin addiction at La Casa De Salud, a clinic located in Bronx, NY. After their patient-physician relationship ended, she and Dudley continued a non-patient relationship where he issued numerous prescriptions to her for controlled substances, namely Suboxone and Xanax, in return for explicit photographs and cash. The former patient currently resides in Plattsburgh.
After learning of the relationship from the former patient, staff from the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and New York State Police-Plattsburgh, conducted an investigation. Law enforcement recorded telephone conversations between her and Dudley between August and October of this year, during which she requested two prescriptions for Xanax be mailed to her for the purpose of being sold. The prescriptions that were mailed to her were written on prescriptions issued by Dudley’s previous employer – the same clinic where he met her, and where he last worked over a year ago.
The case was investigated by Investigator Michael Connelly and Investigator Samuel Scotellaro III, under the supervision of Supervising Investigator Dianne Tuffey, along with Special Agent Donald Chu and Special Agent Michelle Pherson, Federal Bureau of Investigations, and Investigator Rebecca Finn, New York State Police-Plattsburgh. The Attorney General thanks the FBI and the New York State Police for their cooperation in this investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by the Albany Regional Office of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Office of the Attorney General. SAAG Erin Lynch represented the people under the supervision of Regional Director Kathleen A. Boland, Special Deputy Attorney General Monica Hickey-Martin, and Executive Deputy Attorney General Kelly Donovan.
The charges are mere accusations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.