Pubdate: Fri, 23 Dec 2005
Source: Bucks County Courier Times (PA)
Copyright: 2005 Calkins Newspapers. Inc.
Contact: http://www.phillyburbs.com/feedback/content-cti.shtml
Website: http://www.phillyburbs.com/couriertimes/index.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1026
Author: Sean D. Hamill,  The Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

OXYCONTIN ARRESTS NET DOCTOR, GUARDS, FORMER COUNTY OFFICIAL

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. - A doctor, two prison guards and a former Allegheny 
County treasurer's department official were charged with 
participating in a large OxyContin ring.

Dr. Alan Egleston, 59, of New Wilmington, Lawrence County, was at the 
center of the ring, writing hundreds of fraudulent OxyContin 
prescriptions, charging $1,000 or $2,000 for each, Attorney General 
Tom Corbett said Thursday.

In all, while working as an emergency room physician at Aliquippa 
Community Hospital, Egleston wrote more than 320 fraudulent 
prescriptions for more than 21,000 pills, Corbett said, and seven 
other people were charged for various roles in the ring.

"This is a significant case," Corbett said. "And there are probably 
other people (who were involved) who we haven't found yet."

Agents were tipped to the ring when nurses at Aliquippa said they 
became suspicious because some patients would come to the emergency 
room asking to see Egleston for treatment, but leave if he wasn't 
working, the indictment alleges.

Among the others charged along with Egleston was Kevin O'Brien, 36, 
of Pittsburgh, a former Allegheny County Jail guard who referred 
addicts to Egleston and sold the drug himself, Corbett said.

Egleston and O'Brien face the most serious charges, with each facing 
one count of participating in a corrupt organization, dealing in 
unlawful proceeds and criminal conspiracy, among other charges.

John Good, 33, of Pittsburgh, a current jail guard placed on unpaid 
leave Thursday, faces charges of possession with intent to deliver 
and criminal conspiracy.

Deputy Warden Lance Bohn, who oversees the jail's operations, said 
there will be an internal investigation to see if any of the drugs 
O'Brien and Good allegedly obtained through Egleston ended up in the jail.

"I try to run an honest operation here at the jail," Bohn said, "and 
if people are involved in those situations here they won't be working here."

Also charged was Pasquale Capizzi, 36, of Allison Park, a former 
Allegheny County treasurer's office administrator, and Thomas Welsh, 
48, a clerk in the office, who both resigned their posts in 2004, 
Treasurer John Weinstein said.

Both Capizzi and Welsh were charged with obtaining possession of 
controlled substances by fraud and criminal conspiracy.

The state grand jury indictment said that they both were fired after 
being accused of dealing drugs on the job, but Weinstein said that 
wasn't accurate.

He said he wasn't aware of any drug dealing in the office, though 
"certainly with this indictment I'm concerned about that now."

Most of the eight people charged, including Egleston, O'Brien and 
Good, were in custody, prosecutors said. Egleston and Good did not 
comment as they were taken to Beaver County Jail on Thursday. Capizzi 
and the others had non-published numbers and could not immediately be 
reached by The Associated Press.

OxyContin is a time-release painkiller that can be highly addictive. 
Designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills 
can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted 
or injected in one swift dose.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman