AFFIDAVIT FILED IN DRUG INVESTIGATION OF TULSA DOCTOR

A police officer says he saw Dr. John Forsythe sell prescriptions in his
waiting room to raise bail.

A Tulsa doctor who is suspected of illegally dispensing drugs allegedly
began to sell prescriptions for quick cash in his clinic's waiting room to
raise enough money for bail when a police officer showed up to arrest him,
an affidavit filed Monday reports.

Dr. John T. Forsythe, 64, has been under investigation for about a year and
a half by state authorities.

Forsythe, who has not been charged, is suspected of selling drugs to
addicts and exchanging drugs for sex, insurance fraud and writing
fraudulent prescriptions. Authorities searched his Clinical Radiology and
Family Medicine office at 2733 S. Harvard Ave. last week.

The search warrant affidavit filed in Tulsa County District Court details
the investigation.

Police Officer E.W. Dalgleish went to arrest Forsythe at his clinic May 15
on charges of stalking and reckless driving, the affidavit indicates.

"Dr. Forsythe was complaining aloud about his trying to gather enough cash
to post his bond and (an) older woman told Dr. Forsythe they had $100 and
were there for the younger girl's appointment, that she needed a
prescription," it says.

Dalgleish told investigators that Forsythe was paid $100 cash for the
prescription for hydrocodone, a pain killer, and that the doctor did not
appear to know the women and did not examine anyone, the affidavit
indicates.

At the time, Forsythe was being arrested on charges involving a former patient.

The patient reportedly told investigators that she became addicted to
hydrocodone and Xanax due to prescriptions Forsythe had provided for her.

In January 1998, she told investigators that Forsythe was harassing her.
Over a period of several days Forsythe contacted her and "asked if she
needed anything," which she took to mean drugs, the affidavit reports.

She reportedly said Forsythe "told her he loved her" and offered to void
her bill if she would live with him. Forsythe later arrived at her
workplace and gave her an unlabeled prescription bottle containing Xanax,
which she gave to investigators.

She also told investigators that Forsythe had once taken nude photos of her
at his clinic and that the doctor had shown her photographs of other nude
women that she believed might have come from a hidden video camera in his
bedroom at the clinic.

The affidavit names several others who have told authorities that Forsythe
sold them prescriptions and exchanged them for sex.

One woman told investigators that Forsythe groped her while she was in his
office, according to reports. The doctor also allegedly offered her
prescriptions in exchange for sex, saying, "If I do this for you, what are
you going to do for me?"

The woman agreed to work undercover and introduced Wagoner County Deputy
Tom Bell to Forsythe, the affidavit reports. Bell reportedly saw the woman
buy a Xanax prescription from Forsythe for $75.

Bell later bought prescriptions himself and witnessed several other
transactions, the affidavit alleges. He reportedly told investigators that
he heard Forsythe agree to see a man about a prescription.

Narcotics bureau spokesman Mark Woodward said officials are considering
charges against Forsythe on the state and federal levels but that it may be
a few weeks before they are filed.

"We could really go over there and get (arrest) him any time we want to,"
he said. "But right now we're concentrating on this investigation."

Forsythe's attorney, Curtis Parks, said the public must presume that his
client is innocent.

"We are taking these allegations very seriously," he said. "But there
haven't been any official charges yet."

Forsythe will continue to operate his clinic while the investigation
proceeds, Parks said.

Brian Barber can be reached at 581-8470.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson