A retired Clinton Township doctor who once faced nine felonies on allegations he over-prescribed pain medications to patients pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor of recklessly placing false information on a health-care chart.

Dr. Stephen Swetech entered the plea last Thursday in front of Macomb County Circuit Judge Richard Caretti in Mount Clemens and was immediately sentenced to $375 in fees and costs. As part of a plea deal with the state Attorney General’s Office, the three remaining felony charges were dismissed.

Swetech’s attorney, Brian Legghio, stopped shot of calling it a victory for his client but noted the charge Swetech pleaded to carries no criminal intent. Swetech admitted he incorrectly diagnosed a shoulder injury, Legghio said.

The Attorney General’s Office offered the deal, he noted.

Swetech was originally charged by the state in 2023 with nine counts of delivery of a controlled substance on the claim he over-prescribed for providing suboxone to six patients and other opioids to three patients in 2017. The charges are punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Judge Sebastian Lucido of 41B District Court in Clinton Township dismissed the six controlled-substances charges involving the suboxone October following an extended preliminary examination.

The three remaining counts involved two instances of an undercover officer gaining a prescription for the opioids Percocet (oxycodone) and one instance of an undercover officer gaining a prescription for Norco (hydrocodone).

Legghio said Swetech never should have been charged.

“I don’t think any criminal charges should have ever been instituted based on the facts of the case, but in order to resolve the case expeditiously as possible we agreed to the misdemeanor that only required a negligence act,” he said. “He never illegally prescribed any prescription medication in his career. That’s been our position since day one. And that position, I think, is what precipitated the plea offer to a misdemeanor from the Attorney General’s Office.”

In a separate, unrelated case, Swetech was among three entities, including his wife’s company, that agreed last November to pay $701,000 to the federal and state governments for engaging in an illegal referral scheme, including Swetech and pharmacist Yasser Maisari prescribing unnecessary medications. Swetech prescribed medically unnecessary opioid and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medications, and Heartland Drugs filled those prescriptions, authorities said.

Heartland Drugs, owned by Maisari and operated by Med Express Inc., was located in the same office building where Swetech’s practice was located. Also located in the building was GMAJOS, a physical therapy company owned by Swetech’s wife that rented space to a medical laboratory in the building.

The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under a whistleblower lawsuit under the False Claims Act, under which a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery.

Swetech has retired, and his son, Jon, and daughter, Maria, have taken over his practice.