Belle Vernon chiropractor, associates to stand trial
A Belle Vernon chiropractor and two doctors all accused of allegedly prescribing narcotics to drug-addicted patients have waived all charges against them to Westmoreland County Court.
Last month, state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane said Dr. Jack Taylor, 59, of 420 First Ave., Belle Vernon, was charged with two counts of corrupt organizations, one count of insurance fraud and one count of theft by deception.
Two doctors who worked out of Taylor’s Pittsburgh Healthworx on Fells Church Road in Belle Vernon — Dr. Mark Boles, 59, of 1114 Castle Hill Drive, Monroeville, and Dr. Edward Sweeney, 65, of 131 Northview Drive, Pittsburgh — were each charged with two counts of corrupt organizations, one count of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, one count of Medicaid fraud, one count of unlawful prescribing, one count of criminal conspiracy and one count of prescribing to a drug-dependent person.
Taylor is the owner of Pittsburgh Healthworx, and Kane noted that the business is also charged with two counts of corrupt organizations and one count of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity.
According to Westmoreland County Court records, all three men waived all charges against them to court earlier this month.
A state grand jury presentment detailed how Boles and Sweeney allegedly illegally prescribed OxyContin, oxycodone, hydrocodone and other controlled substances to drug-dependent patients, Kane said. Agents estimate that over the course of the investigation, Pittsburgh Healthworx, through the actions of the medical doctors, illegally prescribed thousands of pills.
According to the grand jury, Taylor allegedly required patients who were illegally receiving controlled substances to submit to chiropractic services multiple times a week in order to continue seeing a doctor at the clinic for their prescriptions. Agents said in many of the cases, people did not need the chiropractic services and were allegedly merely using them as a ruse in order to feed their addictions.
The grand jury found that from January 2007 to May 2013, Pittsburgh Healthworx allegedly received more than $2.3 million in payments for medical and chiropractic services from Highmark Insurance.
In addition to the payments from Highmark, Taylor also allegedly misled UNUM Insurance about his ability to work following a motorcycle accident in the fall of 2010. Taylor allegedly returned to work full time in January 2011 as a chiropractor and collected a full salary from Pittsburgh Healthworx while allegedly continuing to collect disability benefits from UNUM.
Agents estimate that Taylor allegedly collected about $45,000 in benefits over an 18-month period, in addition to his salary.
All three men remain free after posting cash bonds following their arraignments.