BALTIMORE, MD—Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has announced the sentencing of Vitalis Ohakwe Ojiegbe, 68, of Bowie, who pleaded guilty to one count of Medicaid Fraud for writing prescriptions for controlled dangerous substances without a legitimate medical purpose in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County in June.

The Honorable Judge Carol Coderre sentenced Ojiegbe to a five-year suspended sentence with three years’ supervised probation. Ojiegbe was ordered to pay $16,035.11 in restitution and is also to be excluded from participating in any federally funded healthcare program.

Ojiegbe, a physician specializing in internal medicine, owned and operated Sunrise Medical Clinic, a medical practice located in the 9800 block of Greenbelt Road in Lanham. The investigation began following a referral from the Maryland Department of Health’s Office of Controlled Substances Administration (OCSA). OCSA is the state agency responsible for enforcing the Controlled Dangerous Substances Act. Beginning in January 2013 and continuing through June 9, 2019, Ojiegbe charged his patients, many of whom were Medicaid recipients, $200.00 a month for monthly medical appointments, even though the patients could have seen a Medicaid provider free of charge. In exchange for these cash payments, Ojiegbe prescribed controlled dangerous substances, including oxycodone and alprazolam, without a legitimate medical purpose.

This case was prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Attorney General’s Office in cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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