QUINCY, Mass. (AP) – An elderly dentist charged last week with writing fraudulent prescriptions that police say were in exchange for sex from drug addicts was found dead in his home Monday, authorities said.

Police had alleged Dr. Joseph T. Matarazzo, 77, wrote more than 100 fraudulent prescriptions over two years in exchange for oral sex. He pleaded not guilty in Quincy District Court on Friday and was released on his own recognizance. He was due back in court March 15.

Family members found Matarazzo early Monday, according to David Traub, spokesman for Norfolk District Attorney William Keating. The family members called Quincy police, who alerted the state police, he said.

“The state police investigated and found nothing that suggested foul play,” Traub said.

A call to Matarazzo’s lawyer was not immediately returned Monday.

Matarazzo allegedly told an undercover police officer that he wrote fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions for the same person three times and suggested “maybe she had a drug problem,” The Patriot Ledger of Quincy reported last week. Oxycodone is the main chemical in painkillers Percoset and OxyContin.

Police obtained Matarazzo’s records showing a list of prescriptions he wrote, and said it includes several people known to police to be drug addicts.

The charges against Matarazzo included distribution of a class B substance, drug violations near a school, conspiracy to violate drug laws, and uttering a false prescription.

His lawyer, Frederick G. Barry Jr., said last week the charges against Matarazzo were related to a single allegation.

“He’s been a dentist for 52 years and he has no prior criminal record whatsoever,” Barry said. “He’s a good man.”

Matarazzo had surrendered his dentist’s license, which he obtained in 1953, according to the state Division of Professional Licensure.