Bethesda doctor facing charges for illegally writing patients prescriptions they didn't need

BETHESDA, Md. — A physician who owned and operated a practice in Bethesda faces up to 30 years in federal prison for illegally distributing drugs including Adderall and Xanax. 

On Feb. 28, Anissa Maroof, 47, was indicted on charges including, seven counts of dispensing or distributing a controlled substance outside the usual course of professional practice and one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises.  

Maroof was arraigned on April 1 in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

According to the eight-count indictment, Maroof, was operating a medical practice in Bethesda when she illegally dispensed and distributed the drugs. Investigators allege that on seven different occasions, from 2021 to 2022, Maroof knowingly wrote patients prescriptions they did not need for controlled substances including dextroamphetamine-amphetamine, sold under the brand name Adderall; buprenorphine, sold as Suboxone and Subutex; and alprazolam, sold under the brand name Xanax.

In addition, the indictment alleges that beginning in Jan. 2019 through June 2022, Dr. Maroof maintained her practice in Bethesda for the purpose of illegally distributing the drugs. 

If convicted, Maroof faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for counts one, two and five for distributing controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice and for maintaining a drug-involved premises. She also faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for counts three, four, six, and seven of distributing controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice. 

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