Dr. Joni S. Canby of Poland was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court to two years of probation, a $30,000 fine and restitution of $135,632 in a scheme that involved Canby and two other doctors and kickbacks that defrauded the Medicaid and Medicare programs.

Judge J. Philip Calebrese in Cleveland also ordered that Canby pay the restitution “jointly and severally” with at least one of her co-defendants and that Canby’s amount is “subject to adjustment.”

The other doctors are Dr. Samir Wahib, 54, of Canfield, an obstetrician-gynecologist, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to five similar charges, and Dr. Michelle Kapon, 43, of Youngstown, a family medicine practitioner, who pleaded guilty earlier to the same charges as Canby.

Wahib conspired from March 2014 through January 2017 to pay kickbacks to Canby and Kapon to induce them to order gonorrhea and chlamydia testing to be performed by Wahib on specimens of Canby’s and Kapon’s patients. Wahib then billed and was paid by the federal government for the testing, according to federal prosecutors.

The doctors attempted to obtain reimbursement for testing that was not medically necessary.

Canby pleaded guilty in November 2021 to conspiracy to solicit, receive, offer and pay kickbacks in connection with a federal health care program and two counts of receipt of kickbacks in connection with a federal health care program.

Wahib will be sentenced at 2 p.m. Sept. 12 before Judge J. Philip Calabrese in Cleveland, who has overseen all three cases.

Kapon pleaded guilty to the same charges as Canby in February 2021 and will be sentenced at 3 p.m. July 5.

Canby’s attorneys filed a sentencing memorandum June 16 that said Canby “has accepted responsibility for her actions and provided the United States Attorney’s Office and its agents with valuable assistance in the investigation of this case.”

The filing states that Canby’s participation in conspiracy “was an aberration. In her 65 years, Dr. Canby has lived a selfless, law-abiding life devoted to her patients, her community and her family. Accepting Wahib’s offer to pay for providing cultures to his office for testing based on his assurances that the payments were lawful was an enormous mistake and Dr. Canby fully recognizes that her actions were unlawful.”

It adds, “Dr. Canby has done all that she can to remedy the harm caused by her actions.”

The memorandum states that Canby established her obstetrics and gynecology practice in Youngstown in 1990. She provided outpatient care and and delivered babies at Youngstown-area hospitals and, in 2003, opened Progressive Women’s Care, which became one of the largest OB-GYN practices in the region until it closed when she retired in 2021 as a result of this case.

She also served on a voluntary basis as medical director of the Youngstown Pregnancy Help Center, which provides free pregnancy testing, ultrasounds and counseling to pregnant mothers and their partners, the filing states.

In 2108, the Mahoning Valley Medical Society named her the Distinguished Physician of the Year. More than 40 of her patients wrote letters to the court in her support, the filing noted. Another 52 letters were written by Dr. Canby’s former colleagues, including doctors, nurses, midwives and staff.

“The majority of Dr. Canby’s practice came from treating underserved populations in Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley region,” the filing states. “Because many OB-GYNs will not accept patients with government-funded health insurance, Dr. Canby frequently received and accepted referrals for patients on Medicaid or even without any insurance at all.

“As a result, Dr. Canby provided care to many women and girls who would not have otherwise had access to care,” it states.

One certified nurse midwife wrote that stated that Canby “took care of many people in this city that other providers would not accept. She took everyone, regardless of their ability to pay or how laet they entered care or no care at all, regardless of risk status; she never turned away patients.”

“The evidence is undisputed that Dr. Canby was not the architect of the fraudulent kickback scheme to which she has pled guilty,” the filing states.

From October 2014 to January 2017, Wahib paid Canby $20 per chlamydia and gonorrhea sample she sent to Wahib’s office, the filing states.

“In total, Dr. Canby received approximately $115,708 in payments from Dr. Wahib,” the filing adds.

According to the Ohio Medical Board, Canby earned her medical license in 1985, and her license is suspended and inactive. On March 8, her license was suspended indefinitely for “at least one year,” according to the medical board.

As part of her consent agreement with the medial board, conditions for reinstatement of her license are that she complete remedial educational courses in professional ethics and pay a $5,000 fine.

The filing states that “Dr. Canby has been disgraced in the medical community and among her personal friends and family. Further, Dr. Canby has lost her medical practice, her business and the ability to provide care to her community,” adding she “must wear the stigma of being a convicted felon for the rest of her life.”