Former doctor's office manager from Pittsburgh pleads guilty to federal drug crimes, health care fraud

A former office manager of a California doctor sentenced for running a “pill mill” in Western Pennsylvania has admitted guilt in federal court to her role in the conspiracy to prescribe fentanyl and opioid painkillers for cash.

Marcia Ramsier Arthurs, 62, of Pittsburgh pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, to commit health care fraud, to launder money, and theft of public money, federal authorities announced Friday.

Arthurs committed the conspiracy between March 2015 and June 2018, prosectutors said.

Authorities said she also unlawfully obtained Social Security benefits from October 2012 through July 2018 after she provided false information about her living and financial arrangements with her co-defendant.

Former physician Paul Hoover, 59, formerly of Novato, Calif., pleaded guilty and was sentenced last October to 11 years and four months in prison on his conviction of conspiring to illegally distribute oxycodone, commit health care and Social Security fraud, and launder money.

He was also ordered to pay the federal government nearly $1.6 million for his three-year scheme.

The pair was charged in 2018 with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, methadone and oxycodone. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid painkiller that can be 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin; as little as 2 or 3 nanograms per milliliter of blood can be deadly.

Between March 2015 and June 2018, Hoover traveled from California to Pittsburgh every three months or so to run a two-day operation in Coraopolis writing illegal prescriptions, prosecutors said.

Buyers then sent him money and he mailed them the drugs, prosecutors said.

US District Judge Mark R. Hornak scheduled Arthurs’ sentencing for Sept. 9.