Delbaggio

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A local pediatrician will spend 30 days in the Blair County Prison after pleading guilty Friday to multiple misdemeanors associated with supplying off-the-record opioid prescriptions to a paramour.

Dr. Rebecca L. Delbaggio, 47, Hollidaysburg, rendered the guilty pleas in front of Judge Daniel J. Milliron to four counts of supplying a controlled substance to a drug-dependent person and 16 counts of refusal or failure to keep required records.

In exchange for those pleas, Milliron imposed the negotiated sentence of 30 days to two years, minus a day, to be served in the county prison, followed by three years’ probation.

Milliron also directed Delbaggio, who remains free on unsecured bail, to report to prison on Oct. 21.

“By entering into this plea agreement, resulting in the dismissal of all felony counts, Dr. Delbaggio maintains the hope of returning to the practice of medicine in the near future,” Delbaggio’s defense attorney, Brian Grabill, said Friday in a written statement.

The pediatrician’s desire to return to medicine will rest with the State Board of Medicine, Harrisburg, which regulates medical practices through licensing and disciplinary procedures.

Before her arrest, she maintained offices in Altoona and Hollidaysburg.

“By all accounts, Dr. Delbaggio is an excellent pediatrician who has helped many families in our community,” Grabill said.

First Assistant District Attorney Pete Weeks said he was satisfied with the negotiated penalties.

“This was not a case of a doctor giving out medications to a large number of people,” Weeks said after courtroom proceedings concluded. “The allegations were that she was giving medication to an adult with whom she was in a consensual relationship.”

The state Attorney General’s office charged Delbaggio in March 2018 with multiple felonies which were dropped in exchange for the guilty pleas to the misdemeanor counts. The AG’s office accused Delbaggio of writing several illegal prescriptions to former professional baseball player Andrew C. Smithmyer between August 2016 and January 2018, giving him access to as many as 780 oxycodone and Xanax pills.

During those months, investigators said Delbaggio was in a relationship with Smithmyer and they were meeting at local hotels. According to the charges, Smithmyer told Delbaggio he was dealing with elbow pain and having trouble sleeping, a condition that developed after being in an automobile accident.

On the same day agents arrested Delbaggio, they also arrested Smithmyer and charged him with several counts of illegal administration of a controlled substance. Those charges are still pending in Blair County Court.

Smithmyer, according to investigators, told them he got prescriptions for Xanax and oxycodone from Delbaggio, along with as much as $50,000 in cash. He said he used the cash pay bills, buy drugs and to pay off debts to loan sharks and bookies. Smithmyer also told investigators that after he became addicted to oxycodone, he turned to heroin.

While Delbaggio said little in court and declined to speak to the Mirror afterward, the statement Grabill issued on Friday indicated that she believes she made a mistake and is remorseful.

“By entering this plea, Dr. Delbaggio acknowledges she engaged in a lapse of judgment and deeply regrets her actions.” Grabill said. “She truly believed at the time, she was helping a friend in need, only later to discover that she was being manipulated under false pretenses.”

When the state Attorney General’s Office filed charges, it pointed out that Delbaggio issued prescriptions to Smithmyer without checking the Pennsylvania Drug Monitoring Program and without a review of medical records or an examination as required under Pennsylvania law.

Investigators also looked for any drug distribution beyond Smithymyer, according to Weeks.

“We checked and couldn’t find that any of these medications were sold on the streets,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.