DOCTOR FACES TRIAL ON DRUG CHARGES

Drug charges against a Gwinnett doctor with a troubled past were
forwarded to Gwinnett Superior Court on Friday.

Family practioner David Joseph Ellis, 50, is charged with distribution
of cocaine and dispensing hydrocodone, a controlled substance.

Both are felony charges that together could send Ellis to prison for
up to 40 years if he is convicted, Gwinnett Assistant District
Attorney Tom Davis said.

Ellis, who has practiced in Lawrenceville and most recently in
Snellville, remains behind bars at the Gwinnett Detention Center in
Lawrenceville. On Friday, he gave up his right to a preliminary
hearing, which would have required investigators to convince a judge
there was enough evidence to detain him.

Defense attorney Doug Daum declined to comment outside the
courtroom.

Ellis, of Conyers, is accused of handing an undercover agent a "crack
pipe" containing what appeared to be crack cocaine at a Gwinnett motel
Jan. 26, according to the arrest warrant. He is also charged with
dispensing hydrocodone, a potentially habit-forming narcotic found in
Lorcet, to an undercover agent without examining the agent, said Rick
Allen, deputy director of the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency.

Ellis was arrested by agents of the Composite State Board of Medical
Examiners and Allen's agency. Other details about the case, including
what prompted the joint probe, have not been released.

State agents are still investigating where Ellis got the cocaine, as
well as the scope of the criminal wrongdoing, Davis said.

Ellis' medical license was revoked in 1996 after the state medical
board determined he had dispensed or prescribed addictive drugs to a
patient, records allege. He was reinstated with restrictions in 1998;
all restrictions were removed in 1999.