LIHU‘E — Dr. Harold C. Spear III pleaded guilty last week to two class C felonies — prohibited acts related to controlled substances — and could be sentenced to five years in prison in mid-June. The state felony convictions for
LIHU‘E — Dr. Harold C. Spear III pleaded guilty last week to two class C felonies — prohibited acts related to controlled substances — and could be sentenced to five years in prison in mid-June.
The state felony convictions for illegally prescribing and dispensing pain medication could have carried sentences of 20 to 40 years in prison, but under a plea deal reached with the state Department of the Attorney General, Spear will likely be sentenced to five years by 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe on June 16, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office.
Watanabe presided over Spear’s change-of-plea hearing last week at the Lihu‘e state courthouse. Spear had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Edmund Acoba, state deputy public defender, represented Spear, and Gary Senaga, deputy attorney general, represented the state.
Spear also pleaded guilty to similar charges in a plea agreement in federal court, and his federal sentencing is scheduled for Monday, though Spear said by telephone Tuesday that he thinks that date will be pushed back due to unavailability of expert witnesses on both sides.
A federal investigation running over three years included Spear’s arrest on charges of dispensing prescription drugs without establishing bona fide doctor-patient relationships (in the federal case), and for dispensing prescription drugs without proper patient documentation and identification (in the state case).
The charges stem from federal search warrants that were executed on Spear’s clinic in Hanapepe in March and June 2006, the release says. State Narcotics Enforcement Division investigators, who were assisting federal agents, discovered and seized hundreds of pre-signed blank prescriptions.
Further investigation revealed that Spear was prescribing and dispensing controlled substances without being present at the Hanapepe clinic, the release says.
On at least two occasions in October and December 2005, several dozen prescriptions for Scheduled II Controlled Substances, including Oxycontin and Ritalin, were prescribed and dispensed from the Hanapepe clinic while Spear was in Florida, the release states.
Spear earlier this year said he planned on attempting to withdraw his guilty plea in the federal case, but Tuesday said he had changed his mind and would be sentenced.
Spear, who served over three months last year at the federal detention facility in Honolulu, said his court-appointed public defender advised him not to fight the charges.
Spear said he had medical and mental problems and wasn’t taking his medication at the time, wasn’t in his right mind when he agreed to the federal plea deal, and was impaired but judged competent to enter into the plea agreement.
Instead of the scheduled sentencing on Monday, federal Judge David Ezra is expected to hear oral arguments, Spear said.
Spear is free on bail on Kaua‘i, where he is planning to appeal to have his medical license reinstated and trying to hold onto his house, he said, adding that he has filed for bankruptcy.
• Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
