A dentist in Oakton is accused of distributing thousands of illegal pain pills, taking the drugs himself and giving them to women he dated.
Prosecutors said Dr. Hamada Makarita, 50, was arrested Thursday and charged in federal court in Alexandria with distributing a controlled substance.
Since January 2007, Makarita has illegally obtained about 2,000 prescription pills, according to a criminal complaint.
Prosecutors allege that he called in prescriptions that were not medically necessary using the names of employees and patients at his dental practice.
A former employee told investigators that Makarita began taking prescription medications while going through a divorce in 2008 and 2009, according to the complaint. Makarita had the employee fill prescriptions for Vicodin, Percocet, Ambien and other drugs for him using the names of that worker and other office employees, the complaint says.
The complaint says Makarita also obtained pills from prescriptions given to patients. Patients were instructed to take a sedation medication like Valium the night before and day of their procedures, then bring the rest of their pills to the office and give them to Makarita.
No one answered the phone Thursday at Makarita’s dental office. It wasn’t clear whether he had an attorney.
Women who have dated Makarita told investigators that the dentist frequently gave them narcotics while they were on dates.
A female patient who dated Makarita for about two years told authorities that she had been addicted to prescription medications and obtained them from Makarita. Those drugs “were for her drug habit and not related to dental treatment,” the complaint says.
The woman said she usually passed out during the couple’s dates.
Makarita showed an office employee explicit photographs of the woman, naked and unconscious, according to the complaint.
The case isn’t the first time a Northern Virginia dentist has faced charges for allegedly obtaining illegal prescription medications of women he dated.
In 2009, Culpeper dentist Dr. William J. King was sentenced to two years and four months in prison for distributing oxycodone, including by writing prescriptions for a woman with whom he was romantically involved.
