Dr. Cheryl Karcher, a well-known New York City dermatologist, was arrested on Wednesday at her Park Avenue office and charged with writing fake oxycodone prescriptions for her patients. She allegedly filled a number of prescriptions at pharmacies using her patients' names and kept them for herself.
Law enforcement searched the Sadick Dermatology office on Park Avenue after Dr. Karcher was escorted out in handcuffs. She pleaded not guilty to a 50-count indictment before a judge at the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Some of the charges included criminal possession of a controlled substance, fraud, and falsifying business records.
The charges stem from Karcher allegedly using her patients' names without their knowledge, including the names of former patients and acquaintances. The investigators say she allegedly lied to pharmacies near her residencies in Manhattan and Connecticut, telling them she was performing a service for them. They most likely questioned her because she is a skin doctor who was supposedly calling in painkiller medications. The indictment said she filled at least 15 prescriptions between February 2010 and November 2012.
"Dr. Karcher has possessed hundreds, if not thousands, of Percocets, Klonopin and other drugs over the past three years, drugs she obtained through fraud," said prosecutor Jeffrey Linehan at Dr. Karcher's arraignment on Wednesday afternoon. "There could be at least another dozen victims of Dr. Karcher's prescription fraud," he added in this New York Times article.
Investigators in both New York and Connecticut are looking into whether or not Karcher used these prescriptions for personal use or other means because the indictment did not offer any insight on the subject. According to Linehan, she wrote the prescriptions and took them to "mom and pop pharmacies" and convinced the pharmacists that she was personally delivering the medications to her patients.
Based on her Sadick Dermatology bio (before it was taken down), Dr. Karcher is the consulting dermatologist to the Miss Universe organization and has appeared on television as well as in a number of magazines. One of her appearances on television along with her work on a skincare shoot can be seen in this CBS New York article.
Karcher was released without bail and the Drug Enforcement Administration is now involved in the investigation. You can read more about the alleged drug fraud committed by a New York City dermatologist in this New York Daily News article.
