The U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo announced that 72-year-old Williamsville physician Dr. Yusuf Siddiqui has entered a guilty plea in federal court for obtaining controlled substances by fraud.
Dr. Siddiqui was charged after federal prosecutors found the doctor wrote a prescription for hydrocodone and clonazepam to a patient he had not examined.
According to Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Dr. Siddiqui wrote the prescription at the request of a patient's daughter on October 13, 2016.
Prosecutors say the doctor drove the woman to the pharmacy to get the medications with the understanding that the doctor would be given some of the narcotic pain killers to replace some he had given the patient's daughter earlier in the day. Investigators said the daughter asked the defendant if he wanted more pills and the doctor responded, "Yes" and took 30 hydrocodone pills.
"Sort of an ironic twist in this case is that Dr. Siddiqui himself was someone who suffered from chronic pain and was himself a patient of Dr. Eugene Gosy - who is also presently under indictment by this office for the unlawful distribution of opioids," said Acting U.S. Attorney Kennedy.
Dr. Siddiqui could face up to four years in jail and a $250,000 fine. As part of the guilty plea, Dr. Siddiqui agreed to surrender his medical license.
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