Former doctor gets probation for felonies

Citing mental illness, Adams' partner pleads guilty to drug charges

By Sara Ganim

BELLEFONTE — The former Philipsburg doctor who practiced alongside Larry Adams pleaded guilty but mentally ill Wednesday to several charges related to fraud and over-prescribing drugs.

Michael A. Fuentes was sentenced by Judge Pamela Ruest to seven years on probation.

His guilty plea and sentencing came after almost three hours of court proceedings and negotiations about 56-year-old Fuentes’ state of mind.

A psychiatrist told Ruest that Fuentes, who faced 25 counts of charges related to prescribing drugs in exchange for favors, was competent enough to participate in court, but was “definitely mentally ill” at the time of the police investigation against him.

“He was so psychotic,” said Philadelphia-based psychiatrist Robert M. Toborowsky, who examined Fuentes four times, “...he lacked substantial capacity to conform conduct to the law.”

Fuentes was paranoid, having grandiose delusions, “laboring under delusional thinking” and was experiencing severe bipolar disorder that dates back 25 years and prevented him from ever fully using his skills as a doctor, Toborowsky said.

When a patient of Adams began working as a police informant, Fuentes “thought he was acting like a cop,” Toborowsky said. He said Fuentes thought he was a friend of the state police, helping to “bust up” Adams.

Actually, he was under investigation along with his fellow doctor.

Fuentes passionately testified that he thought he was an undercover police informant trying to shed light on Adams’ criminal activity, not participate in it. He vehemently denied wrongdoing and began yelling on the stand about his innocence.

Still, prosecutors said he was engaging in criminal activity, and defense counsel Joseph Amendola said Fuentes understood that if he took the case to trial, there was a “strong risk that a jury would not accept” his story.

After testifying, Fuentes talked to his attorney, then pleaded guilty but mentally ill to six drug-related charges: four felonies and two misdemeanors, including overprescribing drugs, prescribing to a drug addicted patient, obtaining controlled substances by fraud and failing to keep good records.

“Dr. Fuentes obviously has a different side to this case than the commonwealth does,” Amendola said. “But he feels at this time it’s in his best interest.”

If he’d gone to trial and lost, “He would have faced a lengthy prison sentence like Dr. Adams,” Amendola said.

The state Attorney General’s Office had arrested the pair of Mid-State Medical doctors in June 2007. Amendola said Fuentes was shocked when he was arraigned alongside his former partner in 2007.

The charges Fuentes faced were similar to those that Adams was convicted of in the fall. Adams is serving seven to 14 years in jail, but has an appeal pending.

“Dr. Fuentes did not belong in jail,” Amendola said, adding he’s glad state prosecutor Janice Martino- Gottshall came to the same conclusion.

Fuentes, who once had his license suspended in 1992 because of his mental illness, has now lost that license permanently. He is living with his parents in Connecticut.

“Dr. Adams was aware that Dr. Fuentes had mental health issues,” Amendola said. “I think if there was one failure within the system, it was that medical folks didn’t keep a stricter eye on Mr. Fuentes and his mental health.”

Sara Ganim can be reached at 231-4616.