By John Coté, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Feb. 19–A West Palm Beach pain management doctor pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges of illegally distributing the painkiller Oxycontin.
Federal prosecutors accused Dr. Andrew D. Weiss of getting at least $200,000 in kickbacks for illegally prescribing 36,600 painkiller pills — including Oxycontin, Percocet and hydrocodone — to people who weren’t patients from 2001 to 2004.
Weiss, 45, of Boca Raton, faces up to 20 years in prison on each charge after pleading guilty to four counts of illegally distributing a controlled substance.
Defense attorney Richard Lubin declined to comment on details surrounding the plea, saying: “There are mitigating factors that will be presented to the court both prior to and at the time of sentencing.”
U.S. District Court Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley has not set a sentencing date. Under terms of the plea deal, Weiss must forfeit $200,000. The remaining 37 counts against him will be dropped.
Weiss operated the St. Lucie Pain Center and a West Palm Beach clinic called Pain Management of the Palm Beaches, according to prosecutors.
Weiss acknowledged in court that he prescribed pills to non-patients, including the roommate and girlfriend of one of his patients, Brian Wojtusik.
Wojtusik was sentenced to about 16 years in prison in the case, pleading guilty to multiple felonies after federal agents found more than 3,000 vacuum-sealed pills in a hidden compartment in his car, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Carlton said in court.
Wojtusik was prepared to testify he became friends with Weiss via a mutual interest in Rachel’s Adult Entertainment and Steakhouse in West Palm Beach, and eventually asked him to provide prescriptions for money, Carlton said.
Wojtusik also would testify that he shipped Oxycontin obtained from Weiss to Marc Wells in Vermont, where it was sold illegally on the street. Wells pleaded guilty in January to abetting the illegal distribution of the drug as well as using a facility of interstate commerce to illegally distribute Oxycodone.
“The source turned out to be Dr. Andrew Weiss,” Carlton said outside court. “I think it’s unusual that the government finds the end source. This is a rare example of that.”
Weiss’ medical license is under emergency suspension, state records show.
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