District Attorney: Doctor charged with felony murder

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Prosecutors said a Clayton County psychiatrist broke his oath as a doctor. The Clayton County District Attorney said Dr. Narendra Kumarreddy Nagareddy has been charged with three felony murder counts.

District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson said the 57-year-old McDonough doctor also was indicted on 59 counts of unauthorized distribution of controlled substances. Lawson said Nagareddy prescribed those drugs without a legitimate medical purposed leading to three deaths.

Lawson said the deaths of 29-year-old Audrey Austin, 49-year-old David Robinson and 47-year-old Cheryl Pennington are being investigated as overdoses. Nagareddy was initially arrested for in January in the death of Austin. He had been on house arrest since bonding out, but was arrested again Tuesday on the new charges.

The new indictments also includes 48 counts of writing prescriptions for Schedule II drugs outside the normal course of his professional practice and 11 counts for prescriptions that were not signed and dated by him when the prescription was issued. District Attorney Lawson outlined some of the drugs prescribed as being oxycodone, methadone, hydrocodone, and amphetamine.

Nagareddy was booked into the Clayton County Jail where he is expected to remain until a bond hearing.