Robert Delagente
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division of Consumer Affairs announced today that the State Board of Medical Examiners has permanently revoked the medical license of a Bergen County family practitioner who is serving a six-year federal prison sentence for illegally distributing opioids and other prescription medications without a legitimate medical purpose and falsifying medical records to cover it up.
Robert Delagente, who operated the North Jersey Family Medicine (“NJFM”) in Oakland, NJ, has been out of practice in New Jersey since June 2019, when the State Board of Medical Examiners (“Board”) temporarily suspended his license in the wake of his arrest by federal agents on charges related to illegal prescribing practices. Delagente subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled dangerous substances (“CDS”), three counts of distribution of CDS, and obstruction of justice by falsifying medical records. In May 2022, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison and three years of supervised release.
In a verified complaint filed with the Board after Delagente’s sentencing, the State alleged that, in committing the crimes for which he was convicted, Delagente engaged in gross negligence and professional misconduct; violated laws prohibiting indiscriminate prescribing; and engaged in criminal conduct adversely related to his profession and inconsistent with the public’s health, safety, and welfare.
In a final consent order filed with the Board this week, Delagente resolved those civil allegations by agreeing to the permanent revocation of his medical license without the ability to reapply for licensure in the future. Additionally, Delagente’s New Jersey CDS Registration, which authorized him to prescribe controlled substances in New Jersey, was permanently revoked under a final consent order filed with the Division’s Drug Control Unit.
“New Jersey is still struggling to address the long-term effects of an addiction crisis fueled by the unchecked flow of prescription opioids into our communities,” said Attorney General Platkin. “There is no doubt that Robert Delagente belongs behind bars for his role in keeping the scourge of addiction alive in our state. The action we’re announcing today holds him accountable for betraying his professional oath by recklessly prescribing highly addictive opioid medications that surely helped destroy the lives of countless individuals.”
“At a time when responsible physicians across New Jersey were joining the statewide effort to combat the addiction crisis and save lives, Robert Delagente was illegally profiting from this deadly epidemic,” said Elizabeth M. Harris, Acting Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs. “By revoking his license to practice medicine in New Jersey, we are making it clear that we will not allow doctors to hide behind their prescription pads to conduct themselves like street-corner drug dealers.”
The criminal charges against Delagente were the result of a joint investigation of Delagente’s practice by the FBI and the New Jersey Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (“OIFP”). The investigation revealed that beginning in May 2014, while practicing at NJFM, Delagente knowingly prescribed controlled opioids, such as oxycodone, Percocet, and Tylenol with codeine, as well as benzodiazepines such as alprazolam, diazepam, clonazepam, and temazepam, outside the ordinary course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.
Investigators found Delagente ignored the inherent danger and medical risk of overdose, drug abuse, and death that can accompany prescriptions of highly addictive opioids, benzodiazepines, and muscle relaxers, both on their own and in combination with one another. The investigation revealed that after law enforcement officials subpoenaed Delagente’s patient records, Delagente materially altered and falsified certain records in an attempt to justify the medical need for prescriptions he had written and to conceal the fact that he had not seen certain patients for an office visit prior to writing the prescriptions.
The joint FBI/OIFP investigation further found that in conduct unrelated to his prescription of CDS, Delagente had submitted more than $32,000 in false claims to an insurance company for health care services he never rendered. The fraudulent claims billed the insurance company for allergy testing and immunotherapy services that Delagente did not provide to patients. The findings led OIFP to charge Delagente with one count of second-degree health care claims fraud. Delagente pleaded guilty and in 2022, and he was sentenced to five years in state prison. Delagente’s state sentence is being served concurrently with his federal sentence.
Deputy Attorney General Cristina E. Ramundo, under the supervision of Professional Boards Prosecution Section Chief Doreen Hafner, within the Division of Law’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement Practice Group, represented the State in the matter before the Board.
Patients who believe that they have been treated by a licensed health care professional in an inappropriate manner can file an online complaint with the State Division of Consumer Affairs by visiting its website or by calling 1-800-242-5846 (toll free within New Jersey) or 973-504- 6200.