Culpeper Dentist Pleads Guilty to Illegal Distribution of Prescription Narcotics

ALEXANDRIA, VA—William J. King, a dentist from Culpeper, Va., pleaded guilty today to participating in a conspiracy to illegally distribute oxycodone.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Joseph Persichini Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, announced the plea after it was accepted by U.S. District Judge Antony J. Trenga.

King, age 61, pleaded guilty to a one count criminal information of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. He will face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison a fine up to $1 million when he is sentenced on Dec. 18, 2009. As part of his plea agreement, King has also agreed to forfeit $150,000.

According to court records, during 2006 and 2007, King regularly wrote prescriptions for OxyContin and other narcotic pain killers for a young woman without any legitimate medical basis. Court records indicate that, on one occasion, the young woman complained to King that she needed more OxyContin due to withdrawal symptoms. Though it was a Sunday and his office was closed, King wrote a prescription for OxyContin and drove the young woman to a pharmacy in Warrenton to immediately fill the prescription. The pharmacist became suspicious and contacted law enforcement, who questioned King about the legitimacy of the prescription. Court records also indicate that King wrote a prescription for OxyContin in the name of a friend of the young woman so the drugs would be paid for by the friend’s insurance, and, on another occasion, King wrote a prescription for OxyContin to the young woman’s brother to pay for babysitting services. Court records further indicate that King also attempted to offset home construction costs based on prescriptions for OxyContin that he wrote to an employee of the young woman who worked on King’s house.

This case is part of an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) investigation (Operation “Cotton Candy”), which has been focusing on the illegal distribution by numerous doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and patients of pain medication, including the very potent, expensive, and widely-abused oxycodone, also known by the brand name of “OxyContin”. This OCDETF matter, which involves support from the FBI, DEA, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosive (ATF), Department of Defense (DOD), Virginia State Police, Internal Revenue Service, and Buchanan, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Tazewell, and Warren Counties, and Manassas City, Virginia, Police Departments, as well as numerous other state and local law enforcement in Virginia and elsewhere, has secured more than 170 drug-trafficking convictions and guilty pleas.

This specific case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Patrick A. McDade on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov.