Pubdate: Wed, 25 Jun 2003
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2003 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Page: A06
Author: Josh White

OXYCONTIN NETWORK BELIEVED EXTENSIVE

Federal Probe Nets 41 Convictions

Federal prosecutors yesterday outlined for the first time the scope of 
their investigation into the illegal distribution of OxyContin, writing in 
court papers that they have already snared 41 dealers in an ongoing probe 
of doctors, pharmacists and patients who formed a conspiracy to sell the 
drugs in a black market.

In court documents associated with pleas and sentencing hearings in U.S. 
District Court in Alexandria, prosecutors said that "Operation Cotton 
Candy" has been focusing on 60 to 80 people in Northern Virginia, most 
notably two pain doctors who are "major targets" of the investigation. A 
federal organized crime and drug enforcement task force has been working 
for more than two years to trace the network of dealers, who prosecutors 
claim have received prescriptions for "obscene" amounts of the painkiller 
drug from the doctors.

Prosecutors wrote that many of the 41 dealers were patients or otherwise 
affiliated with the two doctors and their separate offices in McLean and 
Centreville. The doctors have previously been identified in court papers as 
William E. Hurwitz and Joseph K. Statkus. Both have acknowledged that they 
are targets of the investigation but have denied any wrongdoing.

Hurwitz and Statkus would not comment yesterday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi wrote in the papers that the doctors 
were prescribing pills after "perfunctory exams" and would "rubber stamp 
and oftentimes encourage the patients' insatiable demand for Oxy and other 
pills."

The patients would then fill their prescriptions at pharmacies and sell the 
pills or hand them over to "recruiters and organizers" for later sale at 
huge markups. Prosecutors said the pills were often taken to southwest 
Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, where some conspirators have likened the 
market among rural addicts to "selling water in the desert," the court 
papers say.

OxyContin is a form of synthetic morphine that has been called a miracle 
drug for cancer patients and others with intractable pain. A long-acting, 
FDA-approved time-release pill, it enables some bedridden patients to 
return to their normal lives. But its potency has made it alluring to 
abusers, who crush it and snort it or inject it for a heroin-like high.

The documents released yesterday show that the federal grand jury is still 
hearing testimony and is examining about five patients "who died from 
receiving and taking obscene amounts of Oxy and other pills."

The information became public in documents relating to a sentencing hearing 
yesterday for Rita Faye Carlin, a former patient of one of the doctors, and 
at a plea and sentencing hearing for Kelly Kathleen Latimer, a former 
Prince William County prosecutor and defense attorney who was a patient of 
both doctors.

Latimer was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison for taking part in a 
conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and for obstructing justice and 
tampering with a federal witness. Latimer traded her pain medications to a 
friend in exchange for crack they shared.

"I know what I've done is wrong and that I've made a complete mess of my 
life," Latimer said in court.

Rossi called the case a "Greek tragedy," while Judge Leonard E. Wexler 
called it one of the most mind-boggling cases he has seen: "You're a lady 
who had the ability, had the brains, had the background, had the family 
background . . . and did what [you] damned pleased."

Latimer's case led, in part, to the resignation of another Prince William 
County prosecutor. John V. Notarianni resigned in April after FBI agents 
raided his office and took his computer as part of the investigation.

Federal prosecutors said in court that a former Prince William prosecutor 
helped Latimer get her husband to lie about where Latimer had been living 
after her release on bond. Though they did not name Notarianni, Latimer's 
husband, Merle Snider, said in interviews that he signed a document he knew 
was false when Notarianni asked him to.

Rossi said in court that Latimer called her husband and a "known 
conspirator" from the Alexandria jail April 9 to dictate a letter, aimed at 
influencing the court, that Latimer knew was misleading. Snider said in 
interviews that Notarianni met him in a church parking lot in Manassas on 
April 10, handed him a pen and urged him to sign the letter.

"I was looking at it thinking . . . 'He handles cases and puts people's 
lives on the line, and he knew it was a lie,' " Snider said in an April 
interview. "It was weird, because we both knew it was a lie."

The letter never made it into court files because Latimer's attorney 
wouldn't accept it. The attorney then recused himself.

Notarianni, who is now a defense attorney, has not been charged with a 
crime. Prosecutors said yesterday in court that Snider is scheduled to 
plead guilty in August to obstruction charges, and the U.S. attorney's 
office is weighing charges against the other known conspirator. Notarianni 
did not return calls to his office and his Manassas home yesterday.

Carlin was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Prosecutors said she has been 
helpful in the investigation and that she has testified before the grand jury.
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