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A Greenacres anesthesiologist pleaded guilty to trafficking in hydrocodone prescription painkillers and was sentenced to 10 years in prison plus a $50,000 fine on Wednesday, according to Palm Beach County State Attorney Michael McAuliffe.
The evidence showed that Dr. Brian Patrick Davey, 58, knowingly diverted prescription medications and helped others fraudulently obtain painkillers between 2007 and 2009 while he ran the since-closed Pounds-A-Weigh weight loss clinic at 1301 W. Boynton Beach Blvd. in Boynton Beach, according to prosecutors.
It first came to light in July 2009 when Charlene Creech discovered her name was being used by a cousin, Toni Davey, to obtain several prescriptions that were written by her husband Dr. Brian Davey, according to the investigative report.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office detectives later learned the names of another cousin, Karen Hourigan, and a friend, Craig Bauer, who also were used to pick up prescriptions. Also, on at least one occasion, Toni Davey drove a woman named Doris Jurinic to a Delray Beach pharmacy to get more prescriptions filled, investigators said.
Undercover detectives said they also observed and videotaped prescription pick-ups by Toni Davey, posing as Creech, at two pharmacies in Lake Worth then followed her to her Greenacres home.
When confronted with the evidence, Dr. Davey told detectives his wife Toni “had a severe addiction” but that he used the painkillers “for a back injury he suffered in the mid-1990s and for a previous broken leg,” the report stated.
A search of Dr. Davey’s home turned up prescriptions for hydrocodone and diazepam signed by Dr. Davey for Karen Hourigan, three prescription pill bottles with the labels partially removed in the master bathroom and “numerous clear plastic pill bags in the master bedroom end table and safe,” that Dr. Davey said he used when he was “out and about,” according to the detective’s report.
The doctor denied any involvement of any third-party co-conspirators and the case against Toni Davey was dismissed, prosecutors said.
During nearly two years of prescription fraud, investigators estimated Dr. Davey illegally diverted 6,390 hydrocodone tablets with a street value of $38,340.
Hydrocodone has a street worth of $6 to $8 per pill and has been identified as the most widely diverted and abused controlled pharmaceutical in the United States, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.