BECKLEY, W.Va. — A Raleigh County doctor decided to plead guilty to a drug charge Tuesday bringing his trial on 20 criminal counts to an abrupt end.
Dr. Michael Kostenko told U.S. District Judge Irene Berger he didn’t think he could win the trial that began Monday in federal court in Beckley so he pleaded guilty to one count of distributing the pain-killer oxycodone without a legitimate medical purpose.
Kostenko owned and operated Coal Country Clinic in Daniels where federal prosecutors said he handed out the addictive oxycodone without seeing the patients who were seeking it. Prosecutors said the practice created and fueled addiction. Defense attorneys argued Kostenko did not operate a pill mill.
“West Virginia is at the epicenter of a drug crisis that is ravaging our state and has left us with the highest overdose rate in the nation. Doctors are entrusted with prescribing authority in order to heal and protect patients, not betray that trust by contributing to prescription drug addiction,” U.S. Attorney Carol Casto said in a news release. “My office will continue working with law enforcement to aggressively investigate and prosecute doctors who illegally prescribe the pain pills that have devastated our communities.
Kostenko faces up to 20 years in federal prison at his Aug. 23 sentencing.