On October 27, 2010, psychiatrist Enrique Rivera Mass signed an agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to a charged of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
[Note: Rivera Mass is identified as a child and adolescent psychiatrist on the websites Psych Yellow Pages, San Juan Doctors andVitals.]
Mass became involved with Internet prescribing while in his native Puerto Rico and continued to do so while employed at the Center for Psychiatric Care in Grand Forks, North Dakota between January 2007 and April 2009.
Authorities report that Mass signed off on prescriptions for nearly 1.8 million pills—weight loss drug phentermine, tranquilizers, painkiller and the smoking cessation drug Chantix—issuing prescriptions to customers in almost every state though he did not meet or talk to any “patients” or have access to their medical records prior to approving the prescriptions. (Examinations, medical/social/treatment histories and the like are part of the standard of care for physicians.)
Mass now faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and the surrender of $100,000 in profits when he is sentenced April 15, 2011. He also had his North Dakota medical license revoked.
Source: Dave Kolpack, “Former North Dakota doctor signs plea agreement in Internet prescription fraud case,” Canadian Business, October 27, 2010.
Psych Crime Reporter 