BECKLEY, W.Va. — A Raleigh County doctor, whose license was revoked earlier this year after questions arose about his prescription practices, was arrested on federal charges Wednesday.
Dr. Michael Kostenko, the former owner of Coal Country Clinic in Daniels, was charged with 20 criminal counts focusing on the distribution of oxycodone for no legitimate medical reason and for distributing the painkiller that contributed to the overdose deaths of three patients.
Kostenko, who maintained his innocence during the license revocation proceedings earlier this year, remains in custody and is scheduled to appear for an arraignment in U.S. Magistrate Court at 10:30 a.m. Friday in Beckley.
Kostenko’s daughter, attorney Christina Kostenko, released the following statement to the Beckley Register-Herald Wednesday:
“My father and client was wrongfully arrested this morning by the FBI and the U.S. Marshals. There has been an ongoing, unjustified investigation over the last 10 years of my father without any avail by the prosecution due to the medical principles he practices by that expose industry and political corruption that has poisoned the people and communities of southern West Virginia.”
She went on to call the charges “frivolous and malicious.”