BETHESDA, MD—A Maryland doctor has pleaded guilty to unlawfully distributing controlled substances.
Anissa Maroof, 48, of Potomac, Maryland, pled guilty to a federal charge of distributing and dispensing controlled substances.
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the guilty plea with Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Baltimore Field Office.
According to the guilty plea, between January 2019 and June 2022, Maroof knowingly caused the distributing and dispensing of Alprazolam, Amphetamine-dextroamphetamine, and Buprenorphine. She committed this act with the knowledge that distributing and dispensing the controlled substances were outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.
Maroof, a physician who was board certified in addiction psychiatry, owned and operated a medical practice in Bethesda, Maryland. She also had a Drug Enforcement Administration registration number that authorized her to prescribe controlled substances.
Through her medical practice, which was located in Maryland, Maroof provided patients from West Virginia with prescriptions for controlled substances, including Alprazolam, Amphetamine-dextroamphetamine, and Buprenorphine. Maroof prescribed patients combinations of Alprazolam, Amphetamine-dextroamphetamine, and Buprenorphine without warning them about the risks of combining these medications. She also prescribed controlled substances to patients even after they indicated that they were selling their excess supply of controlled substances through illicit channels.
Additionally, Maroof regularly prescribed controlled substances to patients without providing them with therapeutic services. On numerous occasions, Maroof called in prescriptions to local pharmacies without first seeing the patient, and then directed the patient to leave cash under her office door in exchange for writing the prescriptions. She also often advised patients how to split filling their prescriptions between different pharmacies.
Maroof faces a maximum of 20 years in prison followed by up to three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chaung scheduled sentencing for Tuesday, August 19, 2025, at 2:30 p.m.
Photo by Alex Green from Pexels
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