TDFP Exclusive: DEA Says Yonkers Physician Assistant Wrote Opioid Prescriptions for a Patient Who Was in Jail
The Drug Enforcement Administration has revoked all three federal registrations that allowed a Yonkers, New York, physician assistant to prescribe controlled substances, after finding that he wrote opioid prescriptions for a patient who was in New York City jail custody at the time, according to a final DEA order published in the Federal Register and reviewed by The Digital Free Press.
The order says physician assistant Vladimir Romaniv issued at least eight prescriptions to the patient "while N.A. was incarcerated, without conducting an examination or establishing a legitimate doctor-patient relationship," and that he "falsified his patient records by noting that he evaluated N.A. 'at the clinic.'"
DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole signed the order on Oct. 5, 2026. It was published Oct. 9 and takes effect Nov. 9, 2026.
What the DEA Found About Vladimir Romaniv's Prescriptions
The case began on Nov. 10, 2025, when the DEA issued an order to show cause and immediate suspension of registration to "Vladimir Romaniv, P.A., of Yonkers, N.Y." The immediate suspension of two of his registrations was based on the allegation that his continued registration was "an imminent danger to the public health or safety," the order says. Two days later, the DEA moved to revoke a third registration, based in New Jersey.
The order identifies the patient only by the initials N.A.
On Jan. 7 and Jan. 8, 2025, according to the order, Romaniv issued two separate prescriptions to the patient for oxycodone-acetaminophen 10-325 mg, "a Schedule II opioid" sold under the brand name Percocet, "both of which were for a 30-day supply of 59 tablets." The DEA found those were overlapping prescriptions, written before the patient had "exhausted all but a seven days' supply" of the drug, which New York rules require before a new prescription for the same drug can be issued.
On Feb. 6, 2025, he issued a prescription for promethazine with codeine, described in the order as "a Schedule V opioid."
According to the order, between Feb. 7 and May 8, 2025, Romaniv "issued at least eight prescriptions for controlled substances to Patient N.A., including oxycodone-acetaminophen 10-325 mg, oxycodone 20 mg and 15 mg (a Schedule II opioid), and promethazine with codeine."
"Evaluated at the Clinic"
The order states that "Patient N.A. was incarcerated by the New York City Department of Correction during the time Registrant issued these prescriptions," and that the prescriptions were issued "without having conducted any assessment or examination of Patient N.A."
The DEA says Romaniv "failed to conduct any verification of Patient N.A.'s location, or note that Patient N.A. was incarcerated, despite Registrant's patient charts claiming that Registrant saw Patient N.A. and that Patient N.A. was 'evaluated at the clinic.'"
The order also found that nine of the prescriptions were written without the "name, address, and telephone number of the supervising physician," which New York regulations require on prescriptions written by a physician assistant.
The order does not say who filled the prescriptions or what happened to the drugs, and it does not say whether Romaniv faces criminal charges.
No Hearing Requested
According to the order, a DEA diversion investigator personally served Romaniv with both orders on Nov. 17, 2025. He did not request a hearing or answer the allegations, so the DEA found him in default, which under DEA rules counts as an admission of the allegations.
"Registrant's egregious misconduct involved unlawfully prescribing controlled substances to an individual with whom Registrant did not have a legitimate doctor-patient relationship, issuing prescriptions to that person without conducting an evaluation or assessment despite claiming to have done so, issuing overlapping prescriptions to that person, and issuing prescriptions without providing the information for Registrant's supervising physician," the order says.
The DEA concluded that Romaniv "has not accepted responsibility for the proven violations, has made no representations regarding his future compliance" with the Controlled Substances Act, "and has not demonstrated that he can be trusted with registration."
The New Jersey Registration
The third registration was based in New Jersey. According to the order, Romaniv's New Jersey controlled dangerous substances license "expired by its own terms" on Nov. 30, 2023, and New Jersey records show it is still expired, so he "is not eligible to maintain" that DEA registration.
The order revokes all three registrations, numbered MR2205602, MR6587919 and MR7746184. It also denies any pending application by Romaniv to renew or modify a registration, and any pending application "for additional registration in New York, Massachusetts, or New Jersey." The order says one of the registrations, MR7746184, had already expired on April 30, 2026, which it says does not affect the agency's power to rule on the case.
TDFP has asked the DEA for comment and will update this story.
Sources: Drug Enforcement Administration, "Vladimir Romaniv, P.A.; Decision and Order," Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 195, pp. 64679-64685, FR Doc. 2026-20749, Oct. 9, 2026: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/09/2026-20749/vladimir-romaniv-pa-decision-and-order (PDF: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-10-09/pdf/2026-20749.pdf)
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