Nov 3, 2014 1 min read

A former Peters Township physician serving an 11-year prison sentence for illegally dispensing powerful narcotic painkillers pleaded guilty Monday to a separate charge of health care fraud.

Oliver W. Herndon, 43, of Venetia, faces an additional 10 years in prison a $250,000 fine in the case, court records indicate.

He devised a scheme to submit hospice claims for his patients, even though they were not terminally ill, the Associated Press reported in October. He also submitted other medical claims for services that were never performed.

Herndon was arrested in 2011 in the other case involving his dispensing 14,000 high doses of oxycodone and Opana after having seen some of the patients for just a few minutes. He pleaded guilty to prescription drug abuse and health care fraud and receive the prison sentence in September 2012, and he also was ordered to repay $700,000 to two health care providers that paid for most of the drugs.

U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab is scheduled to sentence Herndon for health care fraud at 9:30 a.m. July 14. He waived the indictment while pleading guilty in the case Monday.