Penn. Pain Management Doc Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Insurers

A Pittsburgh-area doctor who specialized in pain management faces a lengthy federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to prescribing unnecessary painkillers and defrauding insurance carriers in the process.

Forty-year-old Oliver Herndon, of McMurray, left a courtroom without commenting Tuesday. His attorney also declined comment on the guilty plea.

Herndon will return for sentencing Sept. 24. Though the judge is not bound by it, prosecutors and the defense have agreed on a sentence of 11 years and three months.

Herndon had been investigated since federal drug agents raided his office in February and revoked his right to issue narcotic prescriptions after saying that scores of pharmacies stopped filling them because they appeared unusually large.

Prosecutors say Herndon also billed insurance providers for more than $400,000 in unnecessary medications or services.