Pubdate: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) Copyright: 2003 Lexington Herald-Leader Contact: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240 Author: Lee Mueller, Eastern Kentucky Bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) DOCTOR CONVICTED ON SEVEN DRUG COUNTS Santos Could Get 16 Years; Procter Takes Plea Bargain GREENUP -A Greenup County jury recommended a 16-year prison sentence for Dr. Rodolfo Santos yesterday -- another stiff sentence for another so-called "dirty doctor." The jury deliberated four hours before convicting Santos, 65, on seven counts of illegally prescribing controlled substances at a South Shore clinic last year. Earlier yesterday, the clinic's owner, Dr. David H. Procter, 52, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Ashland to conspiring with two former office managers to illegally prescribe controlled substances. Prosecutors recommended a 121-month sentence and a $250,000 fine for Procter. Santos was the last of four former Procter doctors to either be convicted or plead guilty to prescription-drug charges. Sentences have reached as high as 20 years. Defense attorney Michael Curtis said he expected the sentences to send a "chill" through the local medical community, causing local doctors to withhold pain pills from patients who need them. Clifford R. Duvall, commonwealth attorney for Greenup and Lewis counties, disagreed. The verdicts won't affect good doctors, he said, but "I get this settling feeling that it will be a while now before the rest of the state looks at Greenup County as the hydrocodone capital of the Bluegrass again." Procter, 52, a Canadian who moved to South Shore in 1977, testified on Friday against Santos after reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. He also is expected to testify in the trial of his alleged co-conspirators, Nancy Jane Sadler, 39, of West Portsmouth, Ohio, and Mary Katherine Dials, 36, of Stout, Ohio. That trial is scheduled to begin today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat Molloy said Procter's help could reduce his prison term, according to federal sentencing guidelines, to 90 months, or 71/2 years. Santos, 65, of Myersdale, Pa., was one of the last of 16 doctors hired to work temporarily at Procter's Plaza Healthcare after November 1998, when Procter said he suffered a head injury in a car wreck that left him unable to treat patients. In 1999, the state medical board accused Procter of having sexual contact with three women patients. He denied the allegations, but surrendered his license. Three doctors -- Dr. Steven Snyder, Dr. Frederick Cohn and Dr. Fortune Williams -- were indicted after leaving Procter's clinic, but Santos was arrested on June 10 last year while driving to work in South Shore. After yesterday's verdict, Santos' 14-year-old son, Anthony, left the courtroom in tears followed by his mother, Donna. Larry Bailey, 60, of Grayson, watched as they passed. His son, Paul Bailey, 35, was listed by investigators as one of seven people who might have died of a drug-overdose after visiting Santos. The elder Bailey did not celebrate the verdict. "I feel sorry for his family," said Bailey, who attended every minute of the eight-day trial. "They didn't deserve this. But my family didn't deserve it, either." Jury already convinced State officials estimated that Santos wrote prescriptions for almost three million units of controlled substances in 13 months at the clinic, including 11,200 prescriptions for Lorcet, a popular pain-killer. Santos declined comment, but Curtis described his client as upset. "But you look at the total number of prescriptions -- especially Lorcet; 11,000 prescriptions in a year -- that was probably something he couldn't overcome, but they didn't max him out, either." The maximum sentence for seven Class D felonies would have been 35 years, he said. Santos will be eligible for parole after serving 20 percent of his sentence. Judge Lewis Nicholls allowed Santos to remain free on a $20,000 cash bond and scheduled formal sentencing for May 22. Jury foreman Carolyn Massie said the amount of Lorcet that Santos prescribed and testimony that he gave paid informant Mary Reed a cocktail of prescription drugs without any medical records last April helped persuade the jury. She said Procter's appearance on Friday -- in which he contradicted much of Santos' testimony -- was not important to the jury. "I think it benefitted him more than it did us," she said, referring to Procter's plea agreement. 'That sound like a drug dealer?' In a statement to federal prosecutors on April 13, Procter outlined the roles of Sadler and Dials at the South Shore clinic while admitting he traded pills for sex to two female patients. He said Sadler and Dials contacted a stream of doctors seeking temporary assignments, who came through his office. Procter said Sadler told him Dr. Steven Snyder of Louisville left signed prescription pads that she filled out so patients could get prescriptions without seeing a doctor. Sadler then "just basically" sold the prescription to the patient, he said. Another doctor, Frederick Cohn of Albuquerque, N.M., who also has pleaded guilty in federal court, also wrote prescriptions, but fell out with Procter, he said. "He wanted more money," Procter said. "He wanted this, he wanted different perks and I did not buy out his contract, so he went out on his own." Procter said Sadler, who was the clinic's office manager after the 1998 car wreck, became his "gatekeeper" who accepted addicts as patients. "She knew," Procter said. He said Dials, who had started working for him in about 1996, "knew that I wanted patients in there that would be easy to evaluate, easy to document, and if they were pain-seeking, medication-type patients, then we knew that once we started treating them, they would keep coming back." In his closing statement yesterday, Curtis tried to show that while Procter and his staff were urging his client to see more patients, Santos made some patients -- including Reed -- wait four or five hours while he treated other patients. "Does that sound like a drug dealer?" Curtis asked. Duvall, meanwhile, conceded that in secretly recorded tapes, Santos appeared to spend time examining Reed before giving her the usual drug "cocktail" of Lorcet 10, Xanax and Soma. It was because Santos knew the clinic was under investigation, Duvall said. "I submit to you that Dr. Santos knows how to pretend to practice medicine," he said. Santos still faces a separate 11-count indictment issued last November. No trial date has been set for those charges. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom