Feb 24, 2008
By: Maggi Martin
Plain Dealer Reporter

Valley View — A Shaker Heights doctor accused of running a "pill mill" from his three clinics killed himself by jumping off the Valley View bridge Saturday, officials said.

Dr. Bruce Feldman, 56, was in the midst of a criminal trial in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, where he faced 207 charges, including drug trafficking, money laundering and operating a criminal enterprise. He was accused of using his three weight-loss and pain- management clinics to prescribe painkillers, including Percocet and Vicodin, to people who did not need the drugs.

Feldman's lawyer asserted during opening statements several weeks ago that Feldman's staff committed the crimes to get back at an unpopular boss. The trial had been expected to wrap up this week.

Valley View police officer Jim Spieth said witnesses saw a man plunge over the side of the bridge in the eastbound lane of Interstate 480 around 7:40 a.m. Feldman left the engine running in his SUV and jumped over the side, landing near Exchange Street.

Spieth estimated that Feldman fell 170 to 180 feet. There are usually one or two suicides from the bridge every year, he said.

Ryan Miday, spokesman for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office, said the office would review the law to determine what happens with the case. He was unaware of any local trials that had been stopped because the accused committed suicide.

Feldman's attorney Richard Drucker said the family was devastated.

"It is a terrible tragedy," Drucker said. "He was a good doctor and a good father. It is tough on all of us."

Several workers at Feldman's clinics pleaded guilty to lesser charges and testified against their former boss.

Prosecutors during the trial said Feldman was the mastermind behind the drug ring. They seized $580,000 from his office safe, a Bentley and a Corvette and said they found 700 patient files with phony names.

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