58 Criminal Charges Against Secaucus Doctor Who Feds Say Prescribed Opiates In Exchange For Sexual Favors

SECAUCUS, NJ — A doctor who lives in Secaucus and had a practice in Fair Lawn, which he was forced to shut down, was charged in this 58-count indictment in December, which the U.S. Attorney's office unsealed and released to the media Wednesday.

Ritesh Kalra, 52, of Secaucus, was arrested in July 2025. As Patch reported last summer, he was initially charged with three counts of distributing opioids without a legitimate medical purpose, and in exchange for sexual favors, and two counts of healthcare fraud.

However, when the case was presented to a grand jury in mid December, Dr. Kalra was then indicted on dozens more criminal charges, including 36 counts of distributing opioids outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises and 21 counts of healthcare fraud.

Dr. Kalra's ZocDoc rating page has been deleted, but this is the Facebook page for his practice.

Kalra appeared for his arraignment Wednesday in federal court in Newark. He's been released on house arrest as his case proceeds. He is prohibited from practicing medicine and was required to shut down his Fair Lawn medical practice until the charges against him are resolved.

Kalra's lawyers are Michael Baldassare and Jennifer Mara, who own a law firm together in Roseland. Baldassare said Thursday Kalra is innocent.

The lawyer also noted that while the July 2025 criminal complaint alleges Kalra inappropriately touched female patients, and also that he gave opiate prescriptions in exchange for sex, Kalra was not indicted for any sex crime in the December 2025 indictment. He accused federal prosecutors of grossly exaggerating the case. The federal case against Kalra was started under Alina Habba, who President Donald Trump named acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, but her appointment was ruled unlawful last year and she had to resign.

"The government’s press release is deplorable and beyond inappropriate," Baldassare said Thursday. "The indictment does not contain a single allegation regarding sexual contact with a patient. The government’s quest for headlines is a non-event and deserves no attention whatsoever. Dr. Kalra maintains his innocence. Period."

Dr. Kalra was an internist with an office at 1501 Broadway in Fair Lawn. Federal prosecutors say he routinely prescribed high-dose opioids — including oxycodone and promethazine with codeine — to patients without a legitimate medical purpose. The FBI helped investigate the case, and they said Kalra is an "abuser who victimized his patients," some of them women from whom Kalra demanded oral and anal sex from in return for opiate prescriptions he would write them.

Between January 2019 and February 2025, Kalra issued more than 31,000 prescriptions for oxycodone, including some days when he wrote more than 50 prescriptions. Several of Kalra’s former employees reported that some of his female patients said Kalra touched them sexually and demanded sexual favors of them in exchange for opioids.

This happened through 2022 and 2023. Several former employees reported hearing sexual sounds coming from Kalra's private office, during appointments he had with certain female patients, according to the initial complaint, which has many details of the alleged sex incidents.

One patient said Kalra forced her to have anal sex with him during multiple clinical appointments. Kalra told the women to be quiet and not to tell anyone about his conduct. When she resisted, he told the patient she needed to engage in sexual conduct with him in order to keep getting her prescriptions, said federal prosecutors.

When she refused, he ceased prescribing her opiate pain medication, formally discharged her as a patient and refused to communicate with her, despite multiple attempts by the patient to communicate with him about transferring her prescriptions and her her medical care.

Another woman said at her first appointment with Kalra, he asked to see her breasts and "asked whether he could suck on them." This woman worked for Kalra also, and she said she kept working for him, and seeing him as a doctor, because he paid more than double what other local doctors' offices did.

Several of his former employees also told the FBI many pharmacies refused to fill prescriptions from Kalra, due to concerns about his prescription practices and that the drugs — oxycodone prescribed with promethazine with codeine — were so strong and addictive.

However, one pharmacy in Jersey City, unnamed, routinely filled his scripts.

Kalra also allegedly billed for in-person office visits that never occurred. Kalra’s electronic medical records allegedly contained false progress notes listing fabricated dates of service, and included examination notes that were generally identical from visit to visit and did not record vital signs. One patient continued to receive opioid prescriptions from Kalra when the patient was incarcerated at Essex County Correctional Facility and had no contact with Dr. Kalra, said the feds.

“Doctors know the devastation opioid addiction can wreak when left unchecked. Allegedly, Dr. Kalra used his position of power for financial gain, fabricating fake appointments, and in some cases, demanding sexual favors in return for prescriptions," said FBI-Newark Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy. "This indictment serves as a warning to others that a prescription pad is not a license to destroy lives."

If convicted he is facing up to 20 years in a federal prison. Individuals who believe they may be victims of Dr. Kalra or have information about this case may contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or by email at NK-Victim-Assistance@fbi.gov.

First Patch report: Secaucus Doctor Demanded Sexual Favors From Patients In Exchange For Opiates: Feds (July 2025)