A State College doctor who was accused of improperly prescribing prescription medication will have his medical license suspended for 30 months.
The Pennsylvania Department of State released this week the September disciplinary actions by each of its 29 licensing board. On Sept. 6 the Board of Medicine ruled that Dr. Kenneth L. Cherry’s license would be suspended for two and a half years ‘because he engaged in the improper prescribing of controlled substances.’
Cherry was initially charged in June by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General with felony counts of prescribing a controlled substance outside the scope of his practice and misdemeanor counts of failure to keep records of the distribution of controlled substances.
At a preliminary hearing in July, the felony charges were dropped and Cherry subsequently pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts for failure to keep records for the prescription of Oxycodone, Percocet and Fentanyl to a woman who was not his patient.
Deputy Attorney General Patrick Leonard said at the time that he expected a 30 month license suspension and a probationary sentence. The Centre County Probation and Parole Department is currently conducting its pre-sentence investigation, and sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 26.
An investigation began in May 2016 when CVS Pharmacy in State College contacted the Bureau of Narcotics Investigations about large amounts of controlled substances being prescribed to the woman by Cherry, an orthopedic surgeon with University Orthopedic Center.
Investigators said they found that between 2014 and 2016 Cherry wrote 63 prescriptions for the woman.
