‘Drug dealer in a white coat,’ doctor sent to prison for illegal opioid prescriptions
Updated Jan 12, 2021;
Posted Jan 12, 2021
A Grand Rapids doctor was sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 12, to federal prison for illegally prescribing controlled substances. (MLive File Photo)Shutterstock
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GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A former Grand Rapids physician was called a “drug dealer in a white coat” for prescribing opioids that were sold on the street.
Dr. Richard Samuel Piazza, 63, pleaded guilty to three charges of unlawfully writing prescriptions for controlled substances such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, two of the drugs behind the nation’s opioid crisis.
U.S. District Judge Janet Neff on Tuesday, Jan. 12, sentenced Piazza to nearly six years in prison, to be followed by three years on supervised release.