HARRISBURG – Attorney General Linda Kelly has announced that agents from the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section and Bureau of Narcotics Investigation have arrested an Indiana County doctor who is accused of trading prescriptions for powerful pain medications, along with cash, gift cards and other payments, in exchange for sexual encounters with a patient.
The defendant is identified as Dr. Tahir Usman Mir, 60, Indiana. Mir owns and operates the Indiana Walk-In Clinic, located on South 5th St. in Indiana.
According to the criminal complaint, Mir was allegedly involved in an extended sexual relationship with a patient at his clinic and is accused of providing numerous prescriptions for controlled substances in exchange for sexual encounters.
Kelly said that prescriptions for oxycodone were allegedly provided by Mir on multiple occasions, even though Mir had never conducted a full medical examination of the patient and was aware that she had failed drug screenings administered by staff at his clinic.
The sexual meetings reportedly occurred in an apartment in Indiana that is located above Mir’s office and clinic, with Mir allegedly providing prescriptions directly or leaving them in a mailbox for the woman to retrieve. On other occasions, Mir allegedly gave the woman cash for the purpose of obtaining her prescriptions.
Kelly said that Mir was arrested at approximately 8 p.m. Tuesday when he arrived at the apartment meeting location after allegedly arranging to have sex with the patient. Agents from the Attorney General’s Office were assisted during the arrest by officers from the Indiana Borough Police Department.
At the time of his arrest, Mir was allegedly carrying a prescription for pain medication in the name of the patient he was supposed to meet.
Mir is charged with one count of provider prohibited acts (providing prescriptions that are not documented in the prescribed manner, are of little or no benefit to the recipient, are below accepted medical standards or are unneeded by the recipient), a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
Additionally, Mir is charged with one count of unlawfully prescribing controlled substances and one count of criminal conspiracy, both ungraded felonies which are each punishable by up to 15 years in prison and $250,000 fines.
Mir was preliminarily arraigned before Blairsville Magisterial District Judge Jennifer J. Rega and lodged in the Indiana County Prison in lieu of $500,000 straight bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Oct. 19 before Magisterial District Judge Rega.
Kelly thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pennsylvania State Police and Indiana Borough Police Department for their cooperation and assistance with this ongoing investigation.
Mir will be prosecuted in Indiana County by Senior Deputy Attorney General Mark A. Serge of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section.