A doctor who was suspended from practicing after he was found curled in the fetal position on the floor of his Bowie office is being investigated by federal authorities for allegedly prescribing “excessive amounts of controlled substances,” court documents said.
Dr. Rajan Sood was suspended by the Maryland medical board Feb. 13 after officials concluded he was addicted to a variety of narcotics, according to the board’s February newsletter. The board also found Sood, a general practitioner, was writing multiple prescriptions for family members and office staff.
Noreen S. Valentine, a Drug Enforcement Administration investigator, reached similar conclusions in her investigation of Sood, Valentine wrote in a sworn statement filed in Maryland’s federal court. Sood has not been charged and did not return calls Monday for comment.
Since 2004, Valentine and detectives with the Prince George’s County Police Department have been following Sood’s prescription writing practices, she wrote. During that time, the investigators have received repeated complaints from pharmacists who believed Sood was writing inappropriate prescriptions for a small number of patients.
Before executing a search warrant at Sood’s former office, the Bowie Town Medical Practice, Valentine analyzed patient information from Washington-area pharmacies, court documents said. She found Sood had prescribed 19,240 tablets of various narcotics to one patient since 2006. Another received 14,757 pills in the same time period.
That amount of drugs, Valentine wrote, indicates that the people are using the drugs for “either personal addiction and/or for distribution purposes.”
In January, Valentine met a physician colleague of Sood’s who reviewed the medical files for the patients Valentine labeled as “drug seekers” in her statement. Sood’s colleague told Valentine that neither of the patients had visited the office for medical purposes in two years.
According to Valentine’s statement, Sood would have the patients pick up multiple prescriptions at a time at one of several pharmacies in Maryland. On Oct. 20, Sood was caught on a Crofton CVS surveillance camera picking up prescriptions with the patient who received the 14,757 pills, Valentine wrote.
On May 20, authorities searched Sood’s Mitchellville house, court documents said. They seized several bags containing prescription drug bottles with different names and a Smith & Wesson handgun, authorities said.
