Aide takes plea in Vegas hepatitis exposure case

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A former aide has pleaded guilty to five felony charges and is agreeing to testify against the former owner of a Las Vegas outpatient clinic that officials blame for a 2007 hepatitis C outbreak in southern Nevada.

Court officials and attorneys tell The Associated Press that 76-year-old year-old Keith Mathahs took a plea deal that could get him probation or up to 72 months in state prison.

He'll testify in trial in April against Dr. Dipak Desai (DEE'-pahk deh-SEYE').

Mathahs was one of two former Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada nurse anesthetists who pleaded not guilty along with the 63-year-old Desai to 28 criminal charges.

They include criminal neglect of patients resulting in death, insurance fraud and racketeering.

Prosecutors allege that Desai's clinics used unsafe injection practices to save money.

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