Doctor on Kauai is target of inquiry
Seized records show signed prescriptions with names left blank
HANAPEPE, Kauai » Federal and state drug agents searched a Kauai doctor's office last week, turning up improper prescriptions that could result in more than 300 separate felony counts, state officials said.
Dr. Harold Spear was booked for investigation of 338 felony counts of violating state laws regarding the unlawful distribution of controlled substances, then released pending further investigation.
If Spear is formally charged and then if he is convicted, the charge carries a maximum five-year prison term and a $5,000 fine per count.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety, Narcotics Enforcement Division, said the case will likely be turned over to a Kauai grand jury when the investigation is completed.
Louise Kim McCoy, the public safety spokeswoman, said the search of Spear's office, the second one in the past six months, turned up records of prescription slips that had been signed by the doctor with the name left vacant.
The other part of the investigation allegedly relates to prescription slips filled out to the doctor, Kim McCoy said.
She added that the prescriptions could have easily gotten "into the wrong hands," stolen or sold. She would not say what drugs were listed on the forms.
She added that the search warrant was part of a state and federal investigation involving state narcotics enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the federal Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Agency.
A federal search of Spear's office was conducted in March.
Spear's lawyer, Michael Green, called his client "a really good guy and decent man" who is a target of overzealous prosecution.
He added that he had yet to speak to prosecutors about the case, and was even unsure if the filled prescriptions could be construed as a crime or if they were a violation of the doctors' standard of conduct.
"So far, he hasn't had a chance to speak for himself," Green added. "We will be very, very aggressive defending this case."
Spear continues to practice medicine, as he has yet to be formally charged.