Pubdate: Tue, 16 Sep 2003
Source: Augusta Chronicle, The (GA)
Copyright: 2003 The Augusta Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.augustachronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/31
Note: Does not publishing letters from outside of the immediate Georgia and 
South Carolina circulation area
Author: Sandy Hodson

TRIAL OF DOCTOR BEGINS

Jury Hears Arguments Over Drug Charges

Dr. Rita Nzeribe Udom didn't run the typical doctor's office, a prosecutor 
told a federal jury Monday. Most of her patients were people addicted to 
narcotics, the prosecutor said.

In the first day of Dr. Udom's trial in U.S. District Court, attorneys 
staked out their strategies for the jury. Dr. Udom, 48, of Atlanta, has 
pleaded innocent to conspiracy and 457 counts of unlawful dispensation of 
narcotic drugs.

Dr. Udom operated the Augusta Medical Center at 1132 Druid Park Ave., which 
was raided by state and federal narcotics agents June 19, 2002.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl Knoche said Dr. Udom's patients would pay $65 
to $95 for a prescription, expensive but better than the street price for 
controlled substances such as pain medicine, he told the jury. From January 
2001 through June 2002, Dr. Udom wrote prescriptions for monthly quantities 
of narcotics every week for some patients, he said.

"The only thing Dr. Udom did for these people was prescribing in 
abundance," Mr. Knoche said.

Witnesses for the prosecution will include a nurse practitioner who was so 
concerned about the large number of pain-medication patients Dr. Udom had 
that he quit after one day, Mr. Knoche said. Another will be Carolyn Mack, 
who worked as Dr. Udom's office manager. She already has pleaded guilty to 
unlawful dispensation of controlled substances and received an 18-month 
prison sentence.

"Let me tell you, Carolyn Mack is a witness with warts," Mr. Knoche said. 
Ms. Mack had a previous conviction for fraud.

Defense attorney Edward Garland told the jury that the only unlawful 
prescriptions were those forged by Ms. Mack. He said Dr. Udom prescribed 
narcotics for patients who claimed they were in pain and for patients 
referred to her by another physician who had already prescribed narcotics.

"Dr. Udom is the victim of lies, deception and forgery of Carolyn Mack," 
Mr. Garland said.

 From the start of her job at the office, he said, Ms. Mack lied, first 
about her criminal past and then as she stole $1,200 to $1,700 a week from 
Dr. Udom. To cover up the theft, he said, Ms. Mack had to show Dr. Udom a 
list with fewer office visits, and to do that she had to forge patients' 
prescriptions.

The criminal investigation began in June 2001 when Special Agent James 
Cope, of the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency, overheard a conversation 
between a customer and a pharmacist, he testified Monday. He said he went 
to Dr. Udom's office and learned from Ms. Mack that the doctor wasn't in 
that day and that she had called in the prescription to the pharmacy.

When agents raided Dr. Udom's office, they found about 50 narcotics 
prescriptions filled out in advance, Agent Cope said. One had no patient 
name but did have the name of the drug, instructions and the doctor's 
signature, he said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth