PIMP-TURNED-PHONY MD ON WEB RETURNS TO PRISON

A one-time pimp has been posing as a doctor on the Internet, illegally
selling drugs online, according to allegations filed in U.S. District Court.

Louis Nomar claimed to hold a degree from a Beirut, Lebanon, medical school
while peddling prescription drugs at New Hope Pharmacy, an online business,
Judge Charles H. Haden II was told.

"We are licensed to sell prescribed growth hormone and prescribed
pharmaceuticals worldwide," the greeting page for New Hope's Web site said.
"Our products are for sexual dysfunction, hair loss, arthritis and obesity."

The greeting page lists a Charleston street address and telephone number
and hawks Viagra, Propecia, Celebrex and Xenical. Other sections of the Web
site were not available Friday.

Nomar, 50, had promised to obey the law when he was released from prison in
May. Haden sent him back to prison Thursday for 15 months, ruling that he
had violated the terms of his supervised release.

Nomar pleaded guilty in May 1995 to cocaine and weapons charges. Police had
found 21 packets of the drug and 34 handguns and other firearms at his
Charleston residence after arresting him in the previous month.

He was arrested on charges that he served as a pimp for a 16-year-old
prostitute who worked out of his business, Annie's Escort Service.

The teen-ager told detectives that she worked for Nomar as a $100-an-hour
call girl. She said he had recruited her in 1994 outside the former Job
Corps center in downtown Charleston, where she was taking classes.

County prosecutors dropped the pimping charges against Nomar after he
pleaded guilty in federal court. An associate was convicted of serving as
the girl's driver to and from motel meetings with clients and sentenced to
prison.

Haden revoked Nomar's release after hearing evidence that he had been
"charging for consultations on the Internet through the use of credit cards
and causing various drugs having legitimate medical uses to be illegally
dispensed."

Nomar listed Moon Tann of West Washington Street as his place of business
when charged last month. Its address is near that of the one listed for New
Hope Pharmacy on the Web site. He reported earning $1,200 in income,
according to court papers.