DETROIT (WWJ) -- A Michigan podiatrist has pleaded guilty to an alleged “sex-for-drugs diversion scheme,” U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison announced Monday.
Dr. Maninder Deswal, of Lansing, was accused of unlawfully prescribing Percocet and Norco pills -- highly addictive opioids -- to various women outside the course of professional medical practice, the attorney’s office said.
Between December 2018 and September 2020, Ison’s office says, the 44-year-old Deswal allegedly issued controlled substance prescriptions to women in exchange for sexual favors, cash payments and/or other illicit drugs.
The women were not patients and he was not issuing them prescriptions for legitimate medical purposes, but instead for personal consumption and “further drug diversion,” officials said.
The foot doctor is set to be sentenced on May 24 before U.S. District Judge Judith Levy.
Along with the Ypsilanti Police Department and Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, the case was investigated by special agents and diversion investigators with the Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.
Related
