YOUNGSTOWN — Karipineni R. Prasad, 81, of Starrs Center Drive in Canfield, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of illegal processing of drug documents and was sentenced to six months of probation.

In a plea agreement with prosecutors, Prasad, a psychiatrist, also gave up his license to practice medicine and surgery. An Ohio medical license online search shows his license is to be revoked permanently.

He surrendered his license Nov. 10, 2021, and it became effective Dec. 8, 2021, according to an Ohio Medical Board document. He became a doctor in 1977.

Prosecutors said Prasad was prescribing controlled substances to employees of the facility where he worked without maintaining patient files or otherwise having a doctor-patient relationship with those receiving the prescriptions.

Steve Maszczak, Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, said it’s required that a doctor document the prescriptions he writes — and document why the patient needs the prescription.

The case was brought to the attention of the Ohio State Pharmacy Board, which investigated the matter a couple of years ago and later brought the case to prosecutors. The illegal prescribing took place in late 2014 and early 2015.

Prasad participated in the hearing by telephone from a hospital in Georgia, where he is receiving treatment for medical issues, but he lives in an assisted-living facility in Georgia, Maszczak said.

Judge Anthony Donofrio of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court presided over the hearing.