A Martinsburg doctor accused of illegal drug activity and repeatedly exposing herself to a female co-worker in order "to motor boat her surgically enlarged breasts" was convicted Wednesday on federal drug distribution charges.
Dr. Tressie Montene Duffy, 45, pleaded guilty to seven counts of aiding and abetting the distribution of oxycodone, a Schedule II drug that is frequently abused.
While Duffy operated West Virginia Weight and Wellness, Inc. in Martinsburg, she leveraged her practice to illegally distribute painkillers, U.S. Attorney Bill Ihlenfeld said in a press release.
Duffy signed blank prescription orders and allowed unlicensed members of her staff to issue prescriptions for narcotics to patients despite the fact that they weren't seen by a physician.
The U.S. Attorney's office began investigating Duffy the year before her September 2014 indictment.
According to the indictment, Duffy signed blank prescriptions orders and allowed her employees to issue 157 prescriptions to 96 patients who were never seen by a physician.
In the indictment, Duffy, along with Amanda Clark, who was an office assistant at West Virginia Weight and Wellness, and Tracie Colbert, an employee of AIT Laboratories, faced 100 felony federal charges for illegally distributing narcotics, including oxycodone, oxymorphone, methadone and methylphenidate.
As a result of pleading guilty, Ihlenfeld said Duffy faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million on each of the seven counts. Duffy agreed, as part of the plea agreement, to relinquish her medical license and to never reapply for a medical license or certificate in West Virginia or any other state.
In addition to Duffy's federal indictment, in 2014 she was named in a complaint filed with the West Virginia Board of Medicine. That complaint outlined similar misconduct involving prescription painkillers at the federal indictment, as well as several other complaints from a person identified as Complainant R who accused Duffy of unscrupulous medical practices.
The complainant accused Duffy of inappropriate sexual conduct related to her "post-augmentation breasts," according to the Daily Mail.
Duffy allegedly forced Complainant R, a co-worker of Duffy's, to "motor boat her breasts, forcibly kissed the same co-worker and regularly exposed her breasts to co-workers, patients and others," according to the state medical board's complaint.
The complaint defined motor boating as "slang for a person moving his or her face back and forth between another person's breasts and making a sound like a boat engine."
When Complainant R told Duffy to stop, the doctor said Complainant R was being a "titty baby," according to the complaint.
Duffy did not face any federal prosecution over the alleged "motor boat" incidents.
At the time Duffy was indicted, Ihlenfeld said, "We're only focused on the prescribing practices of Dr. Duffy and none of the other matters that have gotten some media attention."
In a separate incident in 2009, Duffy pleaded no contest to insurance fraud in Berkeley Count Magistrate Court. The following year, the West Virginia Board of Medicine issued a consent order requiring Duffy to undergo psychological counseling after being cited for unprofessional conduct.
Reach Joel Ebert at 304-348-4843, joel.ebert@wvgazettemail.com, or follow @joelebert29 on Twitter.