LIHU‘E — Dr. Harold “Tex” Spear III, formerly of Hanapepe, on Friday pleaded guilty to four counts of distributing narcotics to people with whom he never established face-to-face, doctor-patient relationships, according to federal prosecutors. The 56-year-old Spear, who used to
LIHU‘E — Dr. Harold “Tex” Spear III, formerly of Hanapepe, on Friday pleaded guilty to four counts of distributing narcotics to people with whom he never established face-to-face, doctor-patient relationships, according to federal prosecutors.
The 56-year-old Spear, who used to practice medicine at the Hanapepe Clinic, pleaded guilty to dispensing controlled substances “outside the usual course of professional practice” and “not for a legitimate medical purpose,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Spear also pleaded guilty to one additional similar charge, filed in the Middle District of Alabama, of dispensing controlled substances. An Internet pharmacy had operated in that part of Alabama, and filled narcotic prescriptions written by Spear.
Spear also agreed to forfeit money seized as part of that investigation.
Spear has been in federal custody, and remains there, after the court revoked his pretrial release for a violation of pretrial release conditions, said Deputy U.S. Attorney William Shipley, who is handling Spear’s prosecution.
Spear will be sentenced on all five charges Oct. 26 before U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra.
Edward Kubo Jr., U.S attorney for the district of Hawai‘i, said in entering his guilty plea, Spear admitted he prescribed methadone — an opioid similar to morphine or heroine — to a Hawai‘i patient on four occasions in 2005 and 2006, and that in each instance the prescription was in violation of federal law prohibiting the dispensing of controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose.
The Alabama charge was premised on a similarly illegal prescription for hydrocodone — the chemical found in painkillers like Vicodin — Kubo said.
Court records show that the investigation into Spear began with the execution of a search warrant at his Hanapepe office as part of a related investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations into the Alabama pharmacy filling prescriptions issued by Spear to patients in several southeastern states.
Following the Alabama investigation, federal authorities in Hawai‘i initiated an investigation into Spear’s Hawai‘i medical practice, including his operation of a Web site called “Dial-A-Doc” (dialadoc.net).
Spear faces up to 20 years imprisonment and fines of up to $1 million on each of the four Hawai‘i charges, and up to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 on the Alabama charge.
Spear was originally charged with 20 counts of illegal dispensing of either oxycontin or methadone without establishing a face-to-face, doctor-patient relationship with the patients for whom he wrote the prescriptions, federal prosecutors said.
Friday’s appearance before U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi marked the near-end of a three-year federal investigation that included one episode where a federal undercover officer was prescribed hydrocodone with guaifenesin — cough medication that can be sold over the counter — by Spear after a short telephone conversation, according to information earlier released by Kubo.
During the federal investigation, which included two raids on Spear’s former Hanapepe Clinic location on Kaumuali‘i Highway next to the Lappert’s ice cream stand, agents found pre-signed narcotic prescriptions that agents say Spear left for his employees to fill out for patients in his absence.
As recently as late March or early April of this year, Spear even visited The Garden Island newspaper building, proclaiming his innocence to an editor.
Formally, Friday’s proceeding, according to the federal court Web site, was for the purpose of Kobayashi hearing Spear’s motion to withdraw his not-guilty plea and to plead anew.
Peter Wolff Jr. is Spear’s federal public defender. Neither Wolff nor Spear could be reached for comment Friday.
Spear’s dialadoc.net Web site is still operational, but clinic and toll-free numbers to contact have been disconnected.
One of the cell phone numbers listed on the Web site had a voice-mail message from a female identifying herself as Caylen Spear, indicating those wishing to leave messages for Dr. Harold Spear may do so.
“He will be away for an extended period of time, and it may be a delay in returning your call,” her message indicates.
Spear was first arrested by federal agents in June 2007, and faces similar charges in state court in Lihu‘e.
He is charged on the state level with felonies for violating state law by issuing prescriptions for controlled substances and not obtaining proper patient identification and documentation, and for administering, prescribing or dispensing a controlled substance without first establishing a bona fide physician-patient relationship.
“By prescribing large amounts of highly addictive drugs to others for compensation, Spear stopped becoming a medical doctor, and simply became a common dope dealer,” Kubo said at the time of the arrest.
