A suspended podiatrist who at one time had offices around the region was sentenced Wednesday to one to two years in jail and six years of probation for overprescribing opioids to patients while assaulting them, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.
An Armstrong County judge ruled Matthew J. Sabo, 52, of Chicora can serve the jail term on house arrest.
Sabo pleaded guilty to drug offenses, simple assault and unlawfully obtaining information, according to the attorney general’s office. Authorities said after his access to a statewide prescription drug monitoring website was suspended, he continued to look at the database.
Sabo was arrested in 2022 after a statewide investigative grand jury found he abused his position as founder and president of the Foot and Ankle Wellness Center of Western Pennsylvania. The company, launched in 2007, had offices in Ford City, Butler, Monaca, Grove City and Moon.
The investigation began after a sexual misconduct complaint filed by one of the doctor’s patients and Sabo’s prescribing habits were audited.
Patients who testified before the grand jury reported that, among other things, he made sexually suggestive comments to them when they were alone in an examination room, touched their breasts and buttocks, kissed them, forced them to touch him and pressed his body against theirs, according to his arrest papers.
Several of the women told investigators that Sabo increased their pain medication without them asking, which caused them to become addicted to the drugs.
Some of the women attended Sabo’s hearing Wednesday.
“What kind of doctor does this? What kind of doctor puts his patients in harm’s way?” one victim said, according to the state attorney general’s office. “He got pure enjoyment knowing he could put his hands anywhere he wanted to because he made me so dependent on a drug, a drug that he overprescribed.”
According to the state licensing board, Sabo was licensed to practice medicine in August 2000. His license was suspended, and it expired in 2022.