Former Coal Center doctor sentenced for prescribing opioids for sex
A former doctor from Coal Center was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for writing prescriptions for opioids in exchange for sexual favors from a patient.
Emilio Ramon Navarro, 60, operated private family practices, including ones in Perryopolis and Mount Pleasant. In 2018, he wrote nine prescriptions to one patient totaling 300 oxycodone pills and 240 dosage units of oxymorphone “for no legitimate medical purpose,” federal prosecutors said.
“When Dr. Navarro prescribed opioid prescriptions in exchange for sexual favors, he abandoned his duty as a physician and recklessly discarded the health and safety of his patients,” said Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Together with our law enforcement partners, our agency will continue to uproot such egregious fraud schemes that threaten public health and wastes taxpayer dollars.”
Prior to imposing sentence, U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan told Navarro, “There are victims involved and they have suffered lasting impacts.”
State Attorney General Josh Shapiro noted since 2016, his office has seen a 135% increase in arrests of doctors who divert prescription drugs.
“Navarro held a position of trust in his community and his patients depended on him to provide medical care,” Shapiro said. “He will now face consequences for showing no regard for the health and safety of his patients, illegally prescribing drugs that have fueled the opioid crisis here in Pennsylvania, and defrauding our Commonwealth’s Medicaid Program.”
In addition to his prison term, Navarro will serve three years on supervised release under the sentence.
In October, Navarro pleaded guilty to unlawfully prescribing oxycodone and health care fraud, and accepted responsibility for eight additional counts of illegally prescribing addictive narcotics. His practices were closed in September 2019, after he was arrested on allegations he exchanged drugs for sex with one patient. In 2020, federal authorities filed a second indictment against Navarro, charging a second patient came forward to make similar allegations.
Navarro has permanently surrendered his medical license.