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September 20, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Moorefield Physician Entered Guilty Plea to
Illegally Dispensing Hydromorphone

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA — A 47 year old Moorefield physician entered a plea of guilty on September 16, 2010, in United States District Court in Wheeling before Chief Judge John Preston Bailey.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that DR. RAJAN BAKHSHISH MASIH, of Petersburg, West Virginia, entered a plea of guilty to an Information charging him with distributing Hydromorphone, not for a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional medical practice, to an individual on January 20, 2008, in Hardy County. DR. MASIH, who is currently free on bond pending sentencing, faces a maximum penalty of eight years imprisonment.

Upon sentencing by Judge Bailey, DR. MASIH will surrender his license to practice medicine for life.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen D. Warner and Robert H. McWillillams, Jr.. The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Hagerstown, Maryland, Task Force; the West Virginia State Police; the Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General; the West Virginia Insurance Commission; the Grant County Sheriff’s Department; and the City of Moorefield Police Department.