Jones County doctor charged in federal opioid case pleads guilty on eve of trial
On the eve of trial late Monday afternoon, Dr. Thomas H. Sachy, a Jones County physician who was arrested three years ago amid a federal investigation into alleged Medicare fraud and the alleged improper prescription of opioids, pleaded guilty to illegally dispensing drugs.
Sachy, 57, of Gray, who was jailed in June 2018, had been accused of crimes linked to his clinic, Georgia Pain and Behavioral Medicine, including: money laundering, conspiracy to distribute drugs “for no legitimate medical purpose,” and unlawfully dispensing drugs that led to death or serious injury.
One person he allegedly prescribed oxycodone and fentanyl to died in 2017, federal authorities said at the time.
Sachy’s trial had been expected to last a month or so.
He was taken into custody Monday after entering his plea in U.S. District Court in Macon before Judge Tilman E. “Tripp” Self.
Sachy pleaded guilty to one count of the unlawful dispensation and distribution of lisdexamfetamine, known as Vyvanse, and oxycodone.
A news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia on Tuesday said that at sentencing in September Sachy faces up to about eight years in prison and three more years on probation.
“In addition, Sachy agreed to forfeit approximately $833,000 in currency and real property, to include his medical office building,” the news release said.
Sachy on Monday admitted that he “knowingly” issued “prescriptions not for a legitimate medical purpose and not in the usual course of professional practice,” the news release noted.
Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.