XENIA — A former Greene County doctor was sentenced Thursday to serve 20 months in prison for charges related to a Bellbrook pill mill.
During his sentencing hearing, John Moore, 61, of Centerville, asked Judge Michael Buckwalter, Greene County Common Pleas Court, for his “utmost mercy.”
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” Moore said. “I got lost, and I went in the wrong direction. I never intended to do anything wrong or hurt anyone. I am truly, truly sorry for my actions.”
George Katchmer, one of Moore’s attorneys, told Judge Buckwalter that he was one of Moore’s patients.
“John is possibly the best and most thorough physician that I have ever encountered,” Katchmer said. “… This is not a bad man. He is a very good physician.”
As part of plea negotiations, Moore pleaded guilty last month to seven felony charges related to the operation, including a Medicaid fraud charge, four trafficking in drugs charges, a theft charge and a permitting drug abuse charge. Moore was originally indicted in August 2015 on 44 felony charges.
As part of his plea, Moore will also be forced to pay about $85,000 in forfeiture and restitution.
Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Haller described Moore as “selling these prescriptions like they’re candy,” he said. “They’re not medically warranted.”
According to court documents, hydrocodone, morphine, OxyContin, Suboxone, Percocet and other drugs were prescribed as part of the operation.
Haller called Moore the pill mill probe’s “primary suspect,” but said an investigation is ongoing and that there are “at least two others that we think helped him run this pill mill.”
“Now we’ll turn our attention to them,” he said.
Haller also said that the investigation into the operation, which was allegedly run out of the offices of Synergistic Health Centers on Lakeman Drive in Bellbrook, began in 2012 and included search warrants, documents seizures and an undercover operation.
According to records from the State Medical Board of Ohio, Moore’s medical license was suspended earlier this month based on his guilty pleas in April.
