The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania announced a sweeping indictment against thirteen people accused of conspiring to distribute the prescription drug oxycodone, with some members allegedly participating in an interstate drug trafficking ring. According to the statement, the two indictments involve twelve western Pennsylvania people and one Indiana resident, Dr. Martin J. Maassen, and cover a plan that ran from January 2019 until July 2024.
The exhaustive investigation, which alleges years of criminal activities, yielded both a one-count indictment and a more sophisticated 22-count indictment. The first names six people from western Pennsylvania, while the second contains new allegations against Maassen for illegally distributing another prescription medication, Adderall. The allegations against Maassen may result in a 20-year sentence for each count of controlled narcotic distribution, as well as a fine of up to $1 million.
Thomas Hodnett, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Philadelphia Field Division, emphasized the heinousness of implicating a medical professional like Maassen in an official release from the US Attorney’s Office, stating, “Doctors such as Maassen have a legal and moral obligation to prescribe these drugs for legitimate medical purposes and within the usual course of professional practice; Maassen allegedly did neither.” Assistant US Attorney Shaun E. Sweeney will pursue the case, emphasizing the darker side of medicine and criminal activity.
Multiple law enforcement organizations, including the DEA and local police, collaborated to pursue these indictments, with the goal of addressing the opioid problem and disrupting narcotics trafficking networks. Through the OCDETF program, agencies pool resources and intelligence to combat significant drug crimes, demonstrating a strong federal and local commitment to justice—whether on the streets or in medical settings.