NORFOLK, Va. — A Virginia Beach dentist pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone pills without a legitimate medical purpose.
Court documents said 48-year-old Gary Hartman from 2014 to 2018 was involved in an elaborate scheme to prescribe oxycodone pills for his personal use and the use of his co-conspirators.
His co-conspirators included his close friends since high school, another dentist, and people who were impoverished.
Hartman would write prescriptions for oxycodone to his friends without a legitimate medical purpose. His friends would then fill the prescriptions, bring back most of the pills for Hartman’s personal use, and keep the remainder for their personal use.
Court documents said Hartman and another dentist would write prescriptions to each other for oxycodone and muscle relaxants for personal use.
With the impoverished people, Hartman would promise to perform free dental work on these individuals in exchange for the service of filling prescriptions of oxycodone pills. Hartman would write the prescription and have the individuals bringing the pills back for him to use.
His conspiracy involved 766 prescriptions written for non-medical reasons and almost 40,000 oxycodone pills.
Hartman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when sentenced on October 2.
“Unethical doctors have no place in our communities,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Hartman used his medical license to push highly addictive pills throughout our community, and deliberately used addicted close friends, other medical professionals, and impoverished patients to obtain these dangerous drugs. Let this prosecution stand as a warning to other medical professional who choose to engage in similar activity: We will not cease our efforts in bringing these types of pill-pushers to justice.”