When Michael Burton started selling designer drugs over the Internet, he never imagined anyone would get hurt. That was before James Edward Downs -- a 22-year-old St. Francisville quadriplegic -- dipped the tip of his tongue into a little blue vial of white powder from American Chemical Supply, developed a 108-degree temperature, had a seizure, went into a coma and died. "This is definitely a wake-up call of actions versus consequences," the 25-year-old Burton said Friday in federal court before he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. "There are things that could happen you might never foresee." U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola also ordered him to pay nearly $16,000 in restitution to Downs' family, and more than $5,000 to Ingenix Subrogation Services, a firm involved in Downs' health-care costs. [continues 628 words]
Prescriptions for pain pills -- and the doctors who issue them -- are getting closer scrutiny in Louisiana. Just weeks after one Baton Rouge physician admitted writing illegal prescriptions and another was arrested, federal and local law-enforcement authorities say they are investigating more such cases in the community. At the same time, state regulatory agencies are developing a database to track prescriptions -- making it easier to investigate physicians and identify patients who may be "doctor shopping," or getting medicine from multiple physicians and pharmacies. [continues 1795 words]
Eight Sheriff's Office Deputies Reassigned Col. Greg Phares, chief criminal deputy for the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, announces Friday that 7 pounds of marijuana and a small amount of methamphetamine are missing from the narcotics division. One deputy resigned, eight others were disciplined and the division has new leadership. The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office narcotics division has new leadership after 7 pounds of marijuana and less than a gram of methamphetamine turned up missing. [continues 652 words]
Four narcotics investigators and one uniformed patrol deputy in the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office have been suspended without pay as part of an investigation into whether evidence was mishandled, a top administrator said Wednesday. The agency opened an administrative investigation last week into allegations that employees may have failed to "properly secure and document evidence," said Col. Greg Phares, chief criminal deputy for the Sheriff's Office. Two investigators have been transferred out of the narcotics division; the other two remain assigned there, Phares said. [continues 267 words]
A federal judge has once again delayed the guilty plea and sentencing of a former Baton Rouge doctor accused of selling prescriptions -- this time to give federal prosecutors time to bring in a New Orleans "medical expert." In an order made public Friday, U.S. District Judge James Brady canceled the hearing for Mark Cotter set for next week after prosecutors requested the delay. A new date has not been scheduled. In his continuance motion, prosecutor Robert Piedrahita said the unnamed expert is reviewing the medical records of five witnesses on which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration based the criminal complaint that led to Cotter's arrest last year. [continues 544 words]
Baton Rouge is losing chiefs at two of its top federal crime-fighting agencies. Jerry Dennis, who heads the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Baton Rouge field office, is retiring Jan. 3. Warren Rivera, the agent in charge of the local field office for the Drug Enforcement Administration, leaves in February for reassignment in Bolivia. Both are leaving their posts as the number of cases those agencies have investigated are at record numbers. Department of Justice statistics show there were 60 drug prosecutions in Baton Rouge federal court this year in the nine-parish area -- nearly three times greater than 2001. There were 60 gun prosecutions this year, a 30 percent increase during the same time period. [continues 499 words]
Supreme Court Ruling Has Judges Reviewing Cases Last week, U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola sentenced Ronald J. Marks to 10 months in prison -- not just once, but twice. It wasn't that the judge was trying to level an unduly harsh punishment. Rather, Polozola was preparing for the possibility that the nearly 20-year-old U.S. Sentencing Guidelines -- which he and other federal judges across the United States use to determine prison terms -- might be thrown out any day now. [continues 1236 words]
Attorneys for former Gov. Edwin Edwards are asking a Baton Rouge state judge to let them see the medical records of U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola. A motion filed Tuesday seeks depositions the federal judge, his psychiatrist and his psychologist gave in a 1998 civil lawsuit. State District Judge Janice Clark, who presided over Polozola's case, has scheduled a hearing for April 19. The case was settled in 2001. The documents are expected to provide insight into Polozola's physical and mental state during Edwards' extortion trial. [continues 397 words]
Suspect Enters Treatment Program A Baton Rouge family physician faces state and federal drug-trafficking charges after allegedly prescribing thousands of pain pills to a recovering drug addict in exchange for guns and giving cocaine to another patient. Dr. Mark M. Cotter, 38, 5806 Highland Road, agreed Monday to surrender his medical license and prescription license and enter a three-month substance abuse treatment program in Monroe. Cotter, who ran the Rejuvenation and Wellness Clinic, 5215 Essen Lane, was arrested Sunday night after a six-month investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency and Baton Rouge area authorities that began in June. [continues 650 words]
The e-mail from JMichaels1213@hotmail.com in February posed a single question: Are the pain pills still for sale? The reply from Hydrocodone@anywhereUSA.com arrived the very next day, according to a federal indictment -- along with the latest price list, shipping fees, Western Union instructions and the minimum required order. The customer requested 20 morphine, 60 oxycodone, 30 hydrocodone, 40 Skelaxin and 20 Percocet pills. He then drove to the Circle K on Old Hammond Highway in Baton Rouge and wired $222.75 via Western Union. [continues 756 words]
SPRINGFIELD -- Just a few minutes before midnight, a Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office cruiser and an unmarked sedan pulled off La. 22 and into the driveway that led to a couple of rickety brown trailer homes. Curious to know what had brought two detectives and a uniformed deputy to his home on this dewy August evening, Dawes Ratcliff left his friends at the metal-walled mechanic shop next door and wandered over to greet them, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration report. [continues 1499 words]
Mayor Worries About Money For Community Policing Mayor Bobby Simpson isn't worried about whether Baton Rouge police officers and firefighters will have the proper face mask respirators, chemical escape suits or hazardous materials expertise should terrorists decide to retaliate for the war in Iraq. That, he knows, is bought and paid for. What does concern the mayor, however, is the future availability of resources that facilitate fighting those crimes that aren't exactly fodder these days for CNN, but no less troubling to those who live and work in this community: Drugs, theft, robbery, corruption and murder. [continues 997 words]
