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Dutchess Doctor Facing Drug, Conspiracy Charges Found Dead

Alfred Ramirez, a doctor who was indicted last year  for writing illegal prescriptions for more than 10,000 painkillers including those that allegedly killed a Yonkers school teacher in March 2015, was found dead in his home on Friday, according to lohud.com.

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara office said they did not have a comment on Ramirez's death on Monday.

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara office said they did not have a comment on Ramirez's death on Monday.

Photo Credit: U.S. Justice Department

Details surrounding his Ramirez's death, who was on house arrest before his upcoming trial on federal drug and conspiracy charges, were not clear on Monday.

Ramirez, a psychiatrist, who in addition to his Dutchess practice, operated an office in Orange County, sold "medically unnecessary" prescriptions for thousands of Oxycodone pills over a nearly four-year period starting in 2012, said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara.

Bharara's office said they didn't have a comment on his death on Monday.

Ramirez, who was accused of taking cash in exchange for the scripts needed to supply the painkillers, wrote out prescriptions for patients who sometimes were not even present.

Among those prescriptions were the pills on which the teacher would eventually overdose on March 23, 2015. 

Calls to Ramirez's attorney concerning his death were not returned, said lohud.com.

 The case against Ramirez sought to break ground in linking doctors to the opioid epidemic raging across the nation, added lohud.com.

Click here to read the lohud.com story. 

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