MB doctor pleads guilty

3 IN OXYCONTIN CASE FACE TRIAL

Deborah B. Sutherland, a former doctor at the Comprehensive Care and Pain
Management Center, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to distribute
controlled substances and conspiracy to launder money charges.

The 52-year-old is one of seven Myrtle Beach doctors who were charged with
illegally distributing narcotics, including OxyContin, and making patients
undergo unnecessary tests so fraudulent claims could be submitted to
Medicare and other health care plans.

She faced a 93-count indictment and maximum of life in prison.

On Wednesday, she pleaded to the lesser charges in federal court in
Florence and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

The final sentence will be up to a judge's discretion. In exchange for her
plea, Sutherland agreed to help the U.S. Attorney's Office with its ongoing
investigation and to testify if needed. Her agreement will be void if she
fails to cooperate.

Sutherland, who appeared in court in leg shackles and a light brown
detention center uniform, will be sentenced later. She will be held until
then without bail, said Assistant U.S. Attorney William Day II of the
Florence office.

He said Sutherland has been in custody since she was extradited to the
United States from New Zealand in December.

Sutherland, along with others in the case, was indicted in June, but she
disappeared afterward. Authorities, who considered her a fugitive, located
her in November in New Zealand.

Day explained in court that, while working at the pain center, Sutherland
used presigned prescriptions to distribute controlled substances. He also
described an instance when she saw five patients at once, in order to "fast
track" them and give them all prescriptions at the same time.

Doctors at the center used the method to issue prescriptions without exams,
Day said.

He also said Sutherland received about $175,000 from a fund where money was
deposited for the pain center and its doctors.

Authorities said more than $5 million was received at the pain center from
payments made by health care benefit programs for the sale of the
controlled substances.

All but three of the doctors in the case have pleaded guilty. The trial is
set for Monday in Florence for the remaining doctors Deborah Bordeaux,
Ricardo Alerre and Michael Jackson.