Ex-Roslyn Doc Sentenced For Conspiring To Distribute Oxycodone

ROSLYN, NY — A former medical doctor who ran a practice in Roslyn was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for conspiring to illegally distribute oxycodone.

Tameshwar Ammar, 53, of Amityville, had unlawfully prescribed thousands of these highly addictive painkillers to two individuals between 2013 and 2019, according to prosecutors. His medical records for the two people indicated that he doled out the prescriptions without any diagnostic proof that either had a legitimate medical reason to take the drugs.

Prosecutors said Ammar wrote scripts to one of the people, knowing he had planned to sell the oxycodone pills to others. In addition, Ammar continued to prescribe oxycodone pills and methadone to the other person, even after learning that he had been admitted to a psychiatric facility in March 2018.

That person died of a drug overdose the following year caused by oxycodone, methadone, and ketamine, according to officials.

"Doctors are supposed to be among the most trusted professionals in our society," said DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan. "This defendant, on the other hand, used his position to prey upon members of our community. By knowingly and intentionally writing prescriptions of addictive opioids that he knew would be resold, he violated not only his oath as a doctor, but the trust of his community."

In June 2020, Ammar relinquished his license to practice medicine. A month later, he pleaded guilty to the charge. As part of his sentence, Ammar agreed to forfeit $245,700 in criminal proceeds.

Jacquelyn Kasulis, the acting U.S. district attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said Thursday's sentence "sends a stern warning that doctors who decide to betray their Hippocratic oaths by acting as profit-seeking drug dealers will face severe consequences."