A 73-year-old doctor recently was placed under arrest and jailed without bail on charges of drug possession with intent to distribute. The elderly physician was taken into custody at his Old Mount Vernon Road home by police from Prince William and Fairfax counties in Virginia for allegedly selling narcotics without a prescription.
Police said the doctor sold morphine and oxycodone out of his Triangle, Virginia, office for cash to patients who did not require the drugs. Police estimated that the alleged side business led to 8,000 oxycodone pills being sold per week.
A couple from Midland, Virginia, was also arrested in association with the doctor’s case. The 49-year-old man and 43-year-old woman are charged with buying non-prescribed painkillers from the doctor’s office for cash. The couple will go on trial simultaneously with the doctor.
A stash of records, cash and prescription painkillers also were allegedly seized from the physician’s office and a basement apartment in the 18000 block of Old Triangle Road. The apartment sits beneath the doctor’s practice. A 53-year-old man, the tenant at the apartment, was arrested and taken into custody. Police also confiscated two vehicles at the office location.
Charges against the physician include 18 counts of prescription fraud and an equal number of counts of possession with intent to distribute a schedule II narcotic. Neither the doctor nor the man who lived in the basement apartment will be allowed to go free before a scheduled February trial.
There was no explanation given as to why the men would not be granted bail, unlike other people in similar situations. There was also no word on if police had a search warrant when the office, apartment and doctor’s home were searched. It is important that police recognize and respect a person’s legal rights in situations like this.
Source: Hybla Valley Patch, “Alexandria Doctor Dealt Oxycodon, Morphine, Police Say,” Brian C. Krebs, Dec. 12, 2011
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