Doctor Forfeits Drug License
Dec 29, 2006
By: Jamie Satterfield
The Knoxville News Sentinel (TN)
A Knoxville doctor accused of peddling powerful pain-killing pills surrendered his license to dispense legal dope Thursday.
Sanford K. Myers appeared before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton Thursday and voluntarily surrendered his U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration certificate that authorized the Knoxville physician to issue prescriptions for narcotic drugs.
That move, coupled with an agreement by defense attorney James A.H. Bell that Myers live with his mother, led Guyton to allow Myers to be freed on bond pending a February trial on charges he led a conspiracy to push Oxycontin, a powerful opiate-based prescription painkiller.
“We’ve worked out all our differences,” Bell told Guyton.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Davidson told the judge that authorities had “concerns about the residence” Myers listed as his own and would only agree to his release if he committed to living with his mother.
Myers has been jailed since last week, when he was arrested on a federal indictment drafted by Davidson and issued by a grand jury.
In the nine-count indictment, Myers, who operated a clinic on Kingston Pike in West Knoxville, is accused of conspiring with Jay Christopher Ridenour, Charles Ridenour and William Larry Cummings to peddle Oxycontin from February 2005 to December 2005.
It’s not clear why it has taken a year to file charges in the case, headed up by DEA Agent Dexter McGee. It’s also not yet known if the two Ridenours are related.
The indictment makes clear that Myers is accused of supplying the pills to the Ridenours and Cummings, all three of whom appear from court records to be cooperating with authorities in the probe.
When asked Thursday whether he would agree if freed to stay away from his alleged co-conspirators, Myers answered with an emphatic, “Yes.” Bell added, “Especially given what they’re apparently saying about him.”
Myers has been licensed to practice medicine in Tennessee since 1985. However, he allowed his medical license to expire in late September.
He told Guyton that he was currently unemployed but drawing $5,700 in disability payments from a private insurer. He also admitted owing the Internal Revenue Service $27,000 in back taxes.
“I was in the process of making (payments),” Myers said of his tax bill.
Myers wanted taxpayers to pick up his defense tab. Guyton tentatively agreed but added that he likely will require Myers to pay at least a portion of Bell’s bill.
“It does appear you might fall in the category of people who must make some (payment toward) your defense,” Guyton said.
Bell entered a plea of innocent on behalf of Myers. The Ridenours and Cummings are all free on bond.
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/
article/0,1406,KNS_347_5243044,00.html
