Dentist held on drug rap

I NSTEAD OF HANDING out toothbrushes and dental floss, a dentist in East Mount Airy dished out prescriptions for Percocet and Oxycodone and may have treated patients while he was high on crack, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.

A monthlong investigation that began with a tip from a confidential informant ended Thursday with the arrest of Chandrakant Parekh, 62, who sold at least 14 prescriptions for Oxycodone and Percocet for between $30 and $40 each from his clinic on Germantown Avenue near Sharpnack Street, authorities said.

After two confidential informants texted Parekh phony names and birthdays for prescriptions for percocet, he met with them at a church near the clinic and handed over two prescriptions for Percocet for $80, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Authorities executed a search warrant Thursday and found Parekh in surgical gear. They asked them to let them into the apartments on the second and third floor above his office where they allegedly found empty crack baggies, a few spoons and pre-written prescriptions.

Authorities said that Parekh told them that he lived in the apartments but that the address on his driver's license is for a home on Byberry Road near Pine in Huntingdon Valley.

He faces drug and reckless-endangerment charges, according to court documents, and is being held in the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on $500,000 bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 29.