DRUG DISPENSER UNDER FEDERAL PROBE

Ky. Has Own Investigation of Doctor

Federal authorities have acknowledged for the first time that a doctor
who co-owned and operated several medical clinics across the Tristate
has been the focus of a three-year federal investigation into an
illegal prescription-drug scheme.

On Wednesday, a federal magistrate judge in Kentucky agreed to a
four-month delay in civil forfeiture proceedings. A prosecutor asked
for the delay so as not to compromise the related federal criminal
investigation of Ghassan Haj-Hamed and unnamed associates.

Court documents allege Haj-Hamed operated offices in Kentucky, Ohio
and Indiana that illegally dispensed controlled substances.

Court documents do not detail what charges could result from the
investigation. Kentucky charges of prescribing painkillers without a
lawful purpose were dropped last year so they wouldn't interfere with
the federal investigation.

Haj-Hamed's license has been suspended in Kentucky, and the Ohio
Medical Board is investigating.

Neither Haj-Hamed nor his attorney could be reached for comment
Friday.

In the past, Haj-Hamed has vigorously denied these allegations. In
federal court filings, he said the government should be forced to
present its evidence against him before attempting to seize his property.

Haj-Hamed also faces a wrongful death suit filed Jan. 29 in Campbell
County by the estate of one of his former patients, Janice Stidham.

Stidham's sister, Brenda Smith, claims that Haj-Hamed, through his
practices in Bellevue and Cold Spring, contributed to her sister's
death by adding to her drug addiction with more than 56 prescriptions
in the last year of her life.

Federal authorities are trying to seize Haj-Hamed's home in the 4000
block of Clifton Ridge Drive, Clifton; Riverside Medical Center at 200
Fairfield Ave. in Bellevue; Riverside Medical Center at 3617
Alexandria Pike in Cold Spring, and buildings at 318 Fairfield Ave. in
Bellevue and 822 Monmouth St. in Newport. The real estate is valued at
a total of $901,000.

Agents are also going after two Mercedes-Benzes worth $52,663 and
nearly $160,000.

When Haj-Hamed's privileges to practice medicine were suspended in
Kentucky, state investigators wrote that Haj-Hamed prescribed the
often abused painkiller OxyContin "like it is candy." One former
employee of the doctor reported feeling "like a drug pusher."

At one clinic in Bellevue, police frequently were called to handle
disputes or traffic outside on days when Haj-Hamed was working, said
Police Chief William Cole. He said cars arrived from eastern Kentucky,
Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia.

The police chief said fights broke out and prescriptions were
sometimes solicited or offered for sale. "It was worse than any
country bar - it was unbelievable," Cole said.