PRESCRIPTIONS FOR PAIN PILLS BRING CHARGES

Dealers Got What The Doctor Ordered, DEA Agent Says

A financially struggling Detroit physician prescribed narcotic-level
doses of pain medication to drug dealers and addicts who paid cash,
federal law enforcement officials said Thursday.

Dr. Elena Perry-Thornton, 54, appeared Thursday in U.S. District
Court in Detroit and was charged with illegally distributing a
controlled substance.

The criminal complaint accuses Perry-Thornton of prescribing 80,464
doses this year with a minimum street value of $3.2 million.
Officials said she prescribed OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma, a
muscle relaxant that when taken with any other narcotic simulates the
effects of heroin.

Perry-Thornton and her attorney, Edward Wishnow of Birmingham,
declined to comment on the charges after Thursday's hearing. If
convicted, Perry-Thornton faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in
prison, a fine of up to $1 million, or both. She is free on a $25,000
unsecured bond with a preliminary exam scheduled for Oct. 18.

Authorities said Perry-Thornton began prescribing medication at
excessive levels after filing for bankruptcy on Sept. 9, 2004. She
allegedly received varying sums for each prescription -- the
complaint notes payments of $50, $100 and $150.

In one instance, authorities said, Perry-Thornton prescribed 480
doses of OxyContin to one person in the span of 29 days -- roughly
eight times the recommended dosage. "Dr. Perry-Thornton is knowingly
facilitating pill-seeking patients and drug dealers selling OxyContin
by providing these individuals with prescriptions for OxyContin
within a short time period," Dean Schenk, a special agent with the
Drug Enforcement Administration, wrote in the complaint.

A pharmacist suspicious of the prescriptions allegedly signed by
Perry-Thornton contacted Dearborn police, triggering the
investigation. Dearborn police notified the DEA in June.

Another pharmacist, Fay Kalla, a manager at a Rite Aid in Warren,
also contacted police about prescriptions Perry-Thornton's patients
sought to fill there, she said Thursday.

Kalla said she sees phony prescriptions every day. But it's rare, she
said, for a doctor to actually sign them.

The complaint also says Perry-Thornton's former office in the 200
block of East Harbortown Drive actually was her apartment.

Perry-Thornton was evicted in May from that apartment for violating
her lease by running a business out of it and for allegedly
threatening building employees. She moved her practice to a used car
dealership in the 3500 block of Junction Street in Detroit. The phone
at the dealership was disconnected Thursday.

Perry-Thornton's attorney asked Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen to
lift his ruling barring her from prescribing medication.

But Whalen said: "Given the facts that have been presented so far, I
believe there is a significant danger to the community."