State College doctor’s license suspended for more than 2 years

A State College doctor who faced felony charges will not be allowed to practice for at least 30 months.

On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Department of State announced a list of license suspensions for various agencies and professions. Among those was Kenneth L. Cherry Jr., 58.

According to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, agents were advised by a CVS Pharmacy in State College that large amounts of controlled substances were prescribed to a woman by Cherry. The doctor had allegedly illegally allowed the woman to fill a prescription totaling 60 mg of oxycodone in May 2016. More than 60 allegedly illegal prescriptions dating back to 2014 for the woman included Percocet, fentanyl, Adderall, Xanax and Ativan.

The last documented prescription for the woman was February 2014 by a different doctor in the practice.

The suspension is retroactive to July 10, and he could be allowed to practice again in January 2020. Legal proceedings could cause a longer suspension.

Cherry is an orthopedic surgeon in State College and has worked at University Orthopedics Center.

Agents met with the woman who allegedly told authorities she had a relationship with Cherry. She said other doctors wouldn’t prescribe pain medications for her, but he would write prescriptions for her without her having to go to the practice.

Cherry faced six felony charges of administering controlled substances out of the scope of a patient relationship and six misdemeanor charges of failure to keep records of a distributed controlled substance.

Six felony charges and three of the misdemeanor charges were withdrawn, and Cherry agreed to plead guilty to three misdemeanor charges, according to the AG’s office.

“I want to commend the CVS pharmacy in State College for coming forward with information about this case,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a July news release. “Everyone can and should play a role in helping us end the illegal practice of diverting prescription drugs from their intended use.”

This story was originally published October 12, 2017 at 3:41 PM with the headline "State College doctor’s license suspended for more than 2 years."