Four years ago the Greater Sudbury Police began investigating a drug ring originating in southern Ontario.
As a result, a southern Ontario physician, 61-year-old Dr. George Otto of Vaughan has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl patches that were sold in Sudbury and the surrounding area.
Testimony revealed back to 2015 the Greater Sudbury Police was investigating suspected drug trafficker, Sean Holmes.
Police noticed Holmes traveled to Vaughan often where he met up with a man named Liridon Imerovik who supplied him with fentanyl patches.
Police then traced the patches back to a pharmacy, which led them to Dr. Otto who was being paid to write the fake prescriptions for the owner, Shereen El-Azarak.
El-Azarek was sentenced to 13 years in prison while Imerovik and Holmes were sentenced to six years each.
Superior Court of Justice Justice Joseph Di Luca stated the doctor, sworn by oath to help save lives, participated in a scheme that ultimately put many lives at risk.
He also stated the tragic irony is made all the more acute when one considers that greed was the only apparent motive.
The court also heard between March 2015 and January 2016, Otto issued more than 6,000 fentanyl patch prescriptions, of which 3,800 came from the pharmacy taking part in the trafficking ring.