Charleston doctor pleads guilty to illegally distributing drugs

A doctor from Charleston has plead guilty to illegally distributing controlled substances for illegitimate medical purposes.

United States Attorney Mike Stuart says Muhammed Samer Nasher-Alneam admitted to writing prescriptions in July 2014 for oxycodone and methadone pills that were not within the bounds of professional medical practice or for legitimate medical purposes.

He was arrested in July of 2018.

“Nasher is now an admitted felon and faces up to ten years - TEN YEARS- in a federal prison. A drug dealer in a lab coat is still just a drug dealer,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “Nasher will never practice medicine again. Ever. Nasher will never write another prescription. Ever. And Nasher will never treat another patient. Ever. We’re cracking down hard across the board - medical professionals, doctors, pharmacists, street dealers and traffickers – in a multi-pronged aggressive approach intended to cut the head off the snake. Medical professionals should take note that if they abuse the prescribing privileges of their profession, and I stress that they are a privilege, my office will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law and I will seek the maximum sentence in every case.”

Stuart says Nasher faces at least five to ten years in prison and a $1 million fine at sentencing which is set for December 2019.