State drug agents charged a Westmoreland County doctor with accepting cash, HMO payments, even a set of gutter guards on his Greensburg home, in exchange for narcotic prescriptions.

Antoine Francis Cawog, 62, who kept a private office in Irwin, was charged with 24 counts of violating the state's controlled substance act, 10 counts of criminal attempt to commit Medicaid fraud, and a federal charge of income tax evasion.

An 18-page complaint and affidavit filed yesterday describes a series of visits by undercover agents and a confidential informant to Dr. Cawog's Irwin office. They said the office lacked a scale to weigh patients and a device for measuring blood pressure.

One agent, Julie Halloran, posed as "Julia M. Hall," a medical assistance patient, and made 10 visits to Dr. Cawog's office at 422 Main St., Irwin.

"During each visit, Dr. Cawog prescribed scheduled medication to Special Agent Halloran without the benefit of a complete history and physical, a review of past medical records, a period of noncontrolled pain medication or physical therapy and no diagnostic tests," the affidavit states.

In addition to stating that he would bill Medicaid for the visits, Dr. Cawog also charged Agent Halloran $60 in cash for six visits, then doubled the charge in the succeeding four office visits.

Agents also said that Donald Jancic, a Clairton man, said he had visited Dr. Cawog because of back pain from a helicopter accident. According to the affidavit, Dr. Cawog eventually advised Mr. Jancic to send a $55 money order to his home address in return for a prescription for Vicodin. Dr. Cawog then mailed a prescription to Mr. Jancic's house.

Undercover agents said they arranged prescription purchases via cell phone and picked up prescriptions from Dr. Cawog at a gas station, a supermarket parking lot and, on Jan. 4, in a stairwell at Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg.

Three months ago, the confidential informant and two of the undercover agents installed gutter guards on Dr. Cawog's home on Foxwood Drive, Greensburg. When they were finished, says the affidavit, "Cawog gave the CI a prescription dated Jan. 21, 2008, for 45 Xanax and 45 Vicodin ES. The CI told Dr. Cawog that he would be giving some of the pills to one of the men that helped the CI to install the gutter guards. The exchange was made near Dr. Cawog's garage."

Yesterday, IRS agents picked up Dr. Cawog, who was taken into federal custody because of fears he might flee the United States.

"Doctors are aware of the highly addictive qualities that many prescription medications can have, yet we continue to investigate cases of doctors selling and abusing prescription drugs," said Attorney General Tom Corbett.

The case will be prosecuted in Westmoreland County by Senior Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Baxter.

Dr. Cawog could not be reached for comment last night. A cell phone listed in his name did not answer and a recording said his voice mail was full.