A suburban Baltimore pharmacist is accused of pocketing more than $300,000 from the illegal sale of prescription painkillers.
Federal prosecutors say Ketankumar Patel sold about 20,000 oxycodone pills to a single confidential informant between February 2008 and April.
Patel was arrested at his home in Eldersburg Tuesday morning after a three-month undercover investigation. He was ordered detained pending a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Baltimore. His attorney, Michael Kaminkow, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Prosecutors say Patel routinely filled bogus prescriptions at his Reisterstown pharmacy and even gave advice about how to forge prescriptions. He allegedly charged up to $1,800 in cash for 60 oxycodone tablets.
Patel faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine on each of the four most serious charges against him.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
