Copyright: 2003 The Courier-Journal
Contact: cjletter@courier-journal.com
Website: http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Author: Gideon Gil, The Courier-Journal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

DOCTOR SENTENCED FOR DRUG CRIMES

Santos Worked At Notorious Mountain Clinic

Dr. Rodolfo Santos, who prescribed painkillers to hundreds of addicts at a
notorious Eastern Kentucky clinic, was sentenced to 16 years in prison
yesterday by Greenup Circuit Judge Lewis Nicholls.

A Greenup County jury recommended that sentence last month after convicting
Santos on seven counts of unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance to
a paid police informant in April and May 2002.

Santos was one of the last doctors recruited to work in the South Shore
clinic of Dr. David Procter. Procter and three other doctors he hired also
have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to prescription drug felonies in
federal or state courts.

Santos, who turned 68 on Wednesday, also pleaded guilty yesterday to 11
counts of illegally prescribing the narcotic oxycodone in 2001 and 2002 to
a patient he had never examined.

The patient, Grady Warren, was a sick man, Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff
Duvall said in an interview, but Santos "never met Grady Warren, so the
prescription could not have been for a legitimate medical purpose."

Santos entered an Alford plea, which means he disputes his guilt but
acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him.

In return for Santos' plea and an agreement not to appeal his earlier
conviction, Duvall agreed to allow Santos to serve the 16-year sentence on
the second set of felonies at the same time as his other sentence.

Santos' lawyer, Michael Curtis of Ashland, said he would probably seek
shock probation - early release - in about four months.

"He doesn't pose any danger," Curtis said in an interview, adding that
Santos has surrendered his medical license and will never practice medicine
again.

Duvall said he will oppose shock probation. If Santos does not get shock
probation, the state Parole Board could consider him for probation in a
little more than three years.

Santos is the second of the five South Shore doctors successfully
prosecuted by Duvall. Dr. Fortune Williams, who opened a clinic in nearby
Garrison after working in Procter's clinic in 2000, was convicted in March
by a Lewis County jury on four counts of illegally prescribing controlled
substances. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Jurors "all know somebody who's had trouble with these pills," Duvall said.
"People are getting sick of it. So I think they're willing to go and cut
off the head of the snake now."