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A physician residing in Drums, Butler Township, was charged by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office with diverting fentanyl and Dilaudid by falsifying records and reports while working as an anesthesiologist at medical facilities in Berks and Columbia counties.
Richard Lemaster Hubbell, 60, was charged with 32 felony counts of acquisition or obtaining of possession of a controlled substance and related misdemeanors.
Hubbell was arraigned Thursday by District Judge James M. Dixon of Hazle Township and released on $150,000 unsecured bail.
“This defendant took an oath to protect his patients and he abused his position of power to divert hundreds and hundreds of doses of potentially lethal substances,” stated Attorney General Michelle Henry in a news release. “No position of power or authority provides permission to break the law, and my office will fulfill its duty to protect the public without making exceptions for title or rank.”
During a search of Hubbell’s residence on Long Run Road, agents with the Attorney General’s Office Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and Drug Control allegedly found hundreds of used and unused vials and syringes containing fentanyl and Dilaudid, the news release says.
The investigation, as alleged, revealed Hubbell was diverting the substances by falsifying records to show the substances were administered to patients, some who did not even require them.
Hubbell allegedly diverted the substances while working at Pennsylvania Eye and Ear Surgical Center in Berks County and Berwick Hospital in Columbia County.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Michelle Hardik is prosecuting.