Weston doctor arrested on drug fraud charges

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Vermont State Police are alleging that Dr. Melanie M. Canon, 49, of Weston prescribed opioid pain relievers to patients, then retrieved the drugs from the pharmacy, never delivered them and kept the drugs for her own use.

In a press release today, Sgt. Thomas Mozzer of VSP’s Drug Diversion Unit said that the Rockingham Barracks had received a complaint of possible prescription fraud in January 2016. Police say that  Canon had been regularly seeing patients outside of normal practice and conducting home visits, and that between July 2015 and March 2016 she had not kept records on those patients.

During that period, according to police, she wrote numerous prescriptions for Oxycodone which she retrieved from the pharmacy “without the knowledge of her patients.”

The charges are a result of an investigation by Vermont State Police with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Vermont Board of Medical Practice. Police say that the investigation revealed at least eight occasions when Canon prescribed Oxycodone (Percocet), had the prescriptions filled and diverted the drug for her own use. Those prescriptions represented over 1,200 tablets.

Canon is charged with eight counts of prescription fraud, although more charges could be filed later if additional patients can be located. The eight counts represent prescriptions for just two patients. According to Sgt. Mozzer, Canon “had many patients. At this point, we have no additional patients (reporting prescriptions) but the investigation is ongoing.”

Mozzer told The Telegraph on Tuesday afternoon that a patient who called an insurer questioning a bill had discovered that drugs had been prescribed for her. She then reported the alleged fraud to the state police.

On April 6, 2016 Canon “submitted to a cessation of her license to practice medicine in Vermont.” She has been cited to answer the charges in the Windham Superior Court Criminal Division on June 14,2016.

According to earlier reports, Canon moved to Vermont in 2013 from New York City. In 2015, her dismissal from the Mountain Valley Health Clinic was a cause for local controversy although the board of the clinic was tight-lipped about the reasons.