Troy Balgo

MARTINS FERRY – Former Belmont County coroner Troy Balgo was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for two counts of healthcare fraud in Columbus on Tuesday afternoon.

According to court documents, in addition to his prison sentence, he must pay $1,335,418 restitution and a $200 special assessment. He will also serve one year of supervised release following his prison time. He was sentenced Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio by Judge Michael H. Watson, who gave Balgo 60 days to get his affairs in order.

Balgo was arrested in 2019 as part of a federal drug investigation. He initially was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with one count of healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, six counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances and one count of conspiracy to commit the unlawful distribution of controlled substances.

Balgo’s business, Belmont Urgent Care Center’s walk-in clinic, was raided along with 12 other pain medication providers by the Appalachian Region Prescription Opioid Task Force as part of a larger operation to intervene in the alleged illegal distribution of more than 23 million pills.

Balgo pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud as part of a plea agreement in 2025.

He was originally scheduled to be sentenced this past August, but it was continued due to an addendum filed by Balgo’s attorney David DeVillers of the Columbus law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP.

It is yet to be known at which federal prison Balgo will serve his sentence.