CO docs indicted in drug fraud that allegedly led to 4 deaths

One Western Slope doctor is in federal custody and another is wanted on charges they overprescribed painkillers to patients, leading to the deaths of four people. Drs. Sam Jahani, 49, and Eric Peper, 53, were indicted by a federal grand jury Aug. 3 on charges of healthcare fraud, money laundering and dispensing controlled substances resulting in death. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday. Jahani was arrested in Texas and will make his first court appearance there. His case is expected to transfer to Colorado. Authorities are looking for Peper. The indictment says that over four-years, Jahani and Peper committed fraud out of their medical clinics, Urgent Care Inc. in Delta, Montrose and Grand Junction. The doctors are accused of prescribing prescription painkillers to patients outside the scope of medical practice. The indictment says they allowed patients to fill prescriptions at pharmacies, which led those pharmacies to file claims and obtain reimbursement for those medications from healthcare benefit programs.