Local doctor arrested on felony drug charges after raid

Channel 11 is getting new details on a doctor accused of running a “pill mill” in the North Hills.

Yesterday, Channel 11 brought you the breaking news -- that Dr. Andrzej Zielke’s Richland Township office and Allison Park home were raided by the FBI.

Police paperwork says former patients were the ones to tip off federal agents. They told the FBI that you could come see Dr. Zielke at Medical Frontiers in the corner of a strip mall along Route 8, give him anywhere from $90 to $250 cash and walk out with a prescription for oxycodone with no problem.

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"This comes off as a pretty perfect town, so things like that are swept under the rug for the most part," said resident Erin Harper. "I graduated in 2014 and I know kids my age. We've lost a ton of kids already to addiction in general, so the fact that this was encouraging that behavior, I think, is really sad."

Channel 11 confirmed Friday that Zielke is facing felony drug charges, mail fraud and healthcare fraud for allegedly overprescribing controlled medication from November 2014 until now.

The criminal complaint says "... Zielke charged $90 in cash for each visit and prescribed oxycodone ..."

It alleges that Zielke told patients to fill their prescriptions at the Medicine Shoppe in Oakmont because his good friend operates that pharmacy.

We went to that Medicine Shoppe today and were told the owners were not available for comment.

We also went to Zielke's home Friday afternoon but no one answered the door.

Authorities say "... patients complain about being addicted to drugs because of Zielke ... and noted the drug-related overdose deaths of three of Dr. Zielke's patients ..."

The complaint says that everything the licensed doctor did was driven by money.

"Well that's it, greed warps your mind,” another resident said.

Zielke is also accused of taking prescription pills to his father in Canada, which led to mail fraud charges. Zielke processed on these charges and is now out after posting $20,000 unsecured bond.

Cox Media Group