N.Y. nurse practitioner pleads guilty to distributing opioids collected from patients

A New York nurse practitioner faces more than four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to unlawfully possessing controlled substances with intent to distribute them, prosecutors said.

Andrew Catalone, 72, of Youngsville, Pennsylvania, entered his guilty plea April 9 in federal court in Syracuse, according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III. Catalone owned a medical practice with offices in Auburn and Fulton, New York, where he regularly prescribed controlled substances to patients.

Prosecutors said Catalone collected unused medications from patients he had previously prescribed them to — a practice not authorized under federal law — then redistributed some of those drugs to other patients as loose pills without a prescription. He failed to document the transactions in patients’ medical records or record any treatment rationale, prosecutors said.

Catalone also failed to consult New York’s prescription monitoring program, known as I-Stop, which state law required him to check each time he dispensed a controlled substance, according to court documents. He knew the distributions were not for a legitimate medical purpose and fell outside the normal course of professional medical practice, prosecutors said.

On Feb. 22, 2022, Catalone possessed approximately 32 grams of oxycodone that he had collected from patients at his Auburn office, intending to distribute at least a portion of it in the same unauthorized manner, according to prosecutors.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 18, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Anthony Brindisi in Utica. Under the plea agreement, Catalone is expected to receive a sentence of 52 months in prison and three years of supervised release if the court accepts the deal.

“Medical professionals are entrusted with ensuring that dangerous controlled substances, like oxycodone, are distributed in a safe and appropriate manner,” Sarcone said. “Catalone abused that trust and put his patients and the public at risk.”

DEA New York Enforcement Division Special Agent in Charge Farhana Islam said Catalone’s actions were no different from those of a drug trafficker and emphasized the agency’s commitment to targeting those contributing to the opioid crisis. “Andrew Catalone knowingly chose to put profits above the health and well-being of those lives he took an oath to help,” Islam said.

HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz said Catalone “intentionally diverted controlled substances and ignored the safeguards in place to prevent their flow into the community.”