DOCTOR AT CENTRE OF PAINKILLER RING, COURT TOLD

'Hillbilly Heroin': Courier Testifies He Would Pick Up Prescriptions, Fill
Them, Then Sell Pills

A jury was told yesterday Dr. Ravi Devgan was a key figure in a painkiller
trafficking ring and that he used "a pen, a white lab coat and a
pre-printed piece of white paper" to perform illegal deeds.

Crown attorney Moiz Rahman told an Ontario Superior Court jury in his
opening address that this was not a "normal" trafficking trial with
evidence of defendants in "expensive suits," with "briefcases full of money
and bags full of white powder."

Dr. Devgan is charged with two trafficking-related offences for allegedly
writing "dozens and dozens of prescriptions" for Percocet and OxyContin
during a more than two-month period in 2001.

The increasingly popular painkillers are sometimes described as "hillbilly
heroin," because of their widespread use in rural parts of the United
States. Last fall, right-wing radio personality Rush Limbaugh admitted to
an addiction to OxyContin.

According to testimony, an alleged associate of Dr. Devgan would obtain the
prescriptions and hand them over to a "drug courier" who would use fake
names to obtain the pills at dozens of different pharmacies, the court heard.

"He would give me the key to a van and say go," said Christopher Bird, the
admitted courier in the alleged drug ring.

Bird told the court he followed instructions from Sandy Hutchens, a
paralegal and the alleged associate of Dr. Devgan.

According to Bird, he would receive prescriptions and a planned route of
pharmacies each morning from Mr. Hutchens. Some of the prescriptions were
not turned over by Mr. Hutchens, said Bird, because the doctor's
handwriting was not legible.

Bird testified he would fill as many as 10 prescriptions per day, at least
five days per week, for 100-pill bottles that retailed for about $20 each.

In exchange, the forklift operator, who was unemployed at the time, said he
received about $100 per day plus gas money from Mr. Hutchens, after turning
over the pills.

"Sometimes I would have to go to Dr. Devgan's office and pick them [the
prescriptions] up," Bird testified.

He said the receptionist at the doctor's midtown office would "have an
envelope for me." Bird said he met Dr. Devgan briefly on one occasion,
while he was having tea at his office and they only said "hello" to each other.

The prosecution witness, who previously received a nine-month sentence of
house arrest, conceded during cross-examination that both he and Mr.
Hutchens would regularly dip into their stockpile of painkillers.

Bird admitted he took about four to six Percocet tablets per day and that
he saw Mr. Hutchens take as many as "a dozen pills at a time."

David Porter, the lawyer for Dr. Devgan, questioned Bird's testimony that
he once delivered an envelope to the doctor's office from Mr. Hutchens that
he knew was filled with money.

Mr. Porter pointed out that Bird had given a number of conflicting
statements about this evidence in previous testimony and interviews with
police.

"I am remembering more as we go along," Bird said.

"That appears to be the case," responded Mr. Porter.

The trial continues today with testimony from Bird's wife, who the court
heard yesterday allegedly observed Mr. Hutchens sell the painkillers from
his paralegal office.