LACEY CHIROPRACTOR FACES DRUG POSSESSION CHARGES

LAKEWOOD -- A chiropractor from Lacey was arrested -- wrongfully, he
swears -- at his Route 9 office this week after the Ocean County
Prosecutor's Office found 125 pills of a prescription painkiller in a
plastic sandwich bag on his vehicle.

But Carlo E. Amato said the bag was planted by an upset ex-patient
against whom he has a restraining order -- a claim investigators are
reviewing.

Amato, 43, of the Forked River section of Lacey was arrested and
charged Monday afternoon with one count of possession of a controlled
dangerous substance at his office on Route 9, Executive Assistant
Prosecutor Robert A. Gasser said.

Authorities say they found Oxycodone, a highly addictive painkiller.
OxyContin, Percocet, Percodan and Tylox are trade name Oxycodone
products, according to www.streetdrugs.org on the Internet, which
markets educational materials about drugs to educators and law
enforcement.

Amato said yesterday the bag was planted on his bumper by an
ex-patient who has "been stalking me." Amato declined to name the
person but said he took out a restraining order on the man earlier
this summer.

"The substance was planted on the exterior of my vehicle," Amato said.
"My fingerprints are not on it. Nothing was in the interior, or in my
business, or in my home or in my mother's home. Nothing was found anywhere."

Gasser said authorities were investigating Amato's claims and that the
county Narcotics Strike Force went to Amato's office based on a tip.
Amato later posted bail and now is represented by Freehold attorney
Raymond Raya.

"We are investigating the case in terms of it's being reported,"
Gasser said.

State records show Amato has been a licensed chiropractor since
October 1986, said Jeff Lamm, spokesman for the Board of Chiropractic
Examiners in Newark.

Lamm said state licenses must be renewed every two years and Amato
last renewed his in July 2003. That license expires in August 2005.

Amato has no record of disciplinary actions by the state licensing
board, Lamm said.

"Since this has just happened, I would suspect the board is not aware
of his arrest" Lamm said. "This is a matter the board would monitor
and depending on its outcome, it could come to the board for its action."

Chiropractors are not medical doctors and therefore have no power to
deal with prescription drugs, Lamm said.

"They are basically working on physical rehabilitation of the
patients," he said. "There would be no need for him to have that
product because he can neither dispense prescription drugs nor write
prescriptions for prescription drugs."

"I was framed," Amato said. "I've spent (18) years a chiropractor in
this community with not so much as a parking ticket."