FEDS ALLEGE ILLEGAL DRUG PRESCRIPTIONS

Drug Dealer, Doctor From Ann Arbor Faces Federal Charges Of Issuing 1
Million Doses Of Painkillers

DETROIT -- A 45-year-old Ann Arbor doctor and convicted drug dealer has
been indicted on federal charges of illegally prescribing more than 1
million doses of narcotic painkillers.

Dr. Stuart W. Bilyeu was charged in a 10-count indictment in U.S. District
Court in Detroit with distributing Xanax, Vicodin, Valium, OxyContin and
methadone. Over a 15-month period ending in April 2004, he prescribed
777,000 doses of Vicodin, 330,000 doses of Xanax and 156,000 doses of
Valium, the grand jury charged.

Bilyeu was the No. 1 purchaser of 10-mg doses of Vicodin in the state in
2003 and part of 2004. He ranked 14th highest in the United States in
prescribing other Vicodin pills and had about 1,400 patients.

In October 2003, the Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating
Bilyeu, after pharmacists and local police raised questions about the high
number of prescriptions he was issuing.

People could get narcotic prescriptions using a Blockbuster card as an ID,
the DEA said.

Melvindale Detective Danny Cadez posed as a patient in July 2003 at
Bilyeu's office. His visit consisted of the doctor "looking at and touching
his back for approximately five seconds. Dr. Bileu then asked Cadez, 'What
do you want?'" said a 28-page affidavit filed by DEA investigator Roberta
E. Goralczyk.

The DEA compared Bilyeu's prescription rate to seven doctors who advertise
themselves as pain management doctors -- and found Bilyeu had prescribed
more Xanax, Vicodin, Valium and OxyContin than the seven doctors combined.

Abuse of prescription drugs by young people remains a serious problem. The
University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study of drug use by
students reported in December that 9.3 percent of high school seniors had
used Vicodin, while the abuse of OxyContin by high school seniors rose from
4 percent in 2002 to 5 percent in 2004.

"Considering the addictive potential of this drug (OxyContin), which is a
powerful synthetic narcotic used to control pain, we think that these are
disturbingly high rates of involvement by America's young people," said
Lloyd Johnston, the study's principal investigator.

The DEA said one of Bilyeu's patients, Steven Ridner, died Feb. 12 from an
accidental drug overdose. A Wayne County autopsy showed high levels of
methadone.

Bilyeu was arraigned and released on a $10,000 personal bond Aug. 19. U.S.
District Judge Robert H. Cleland set an Oct. 14 trial date. His attorney,
Douglas Mullkoff, didn't return calls seeking comment Friday.

Bilyeu had been investigated in the early 1990s and was charged by Michigan
authorities in 1992 with illegally selling prescriptions and marijuana. He
pleaded guilty and was sentenced to lifetime probation, the DEA said. His
medical license was suspended.

In 1994, the lifetime probation was changed to a three-year probation. In
2000, Bilyeu was reissued a medical license, and the DEA issued him a new
license to dispense controlled substances.

Bilyeu opened the Down River Pain Clinic on Telegraph in Taylor and moved
it to Detroit earlier this year.