A former New Jersey doctor has been sentenced to seven years in prison for selling prescriptions for the painkiller Percocet to a drug dealer and creating phony patient records to back up the black-market sales.

William Kropinicki (NJ Attorney General's Office)
William Kropinicki (NJ Attorney General's Office)
loading...

The attorney general's office says 59-year-old William Kropinicki of Morrisville, Pa., also must pay a $10,000 fine.

Prosecutors say a co-defendant went to the doctor's Lawrence, N.J., office in August 2008 and paid him $100 for each of eight 120-pill prescriptions.

Authorities found that Kropinicki created false medical records for each of the phony names. The investigation also turned up hundreds of other suspicious prescriptions.

His license was revoked in 2008.

Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa says the prison sentence, handed out Friday in Trenton, sends a message that medical professionals risk severe punishment if they get involved in illicit drug sales.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM