STATE COLLEGE – Dr. Larry Adams was charged Monday related to an ongoing drug investigation of his alleged involvement in illegal activity with pre scri ption narcotics. This is the third round of charges Adams is facing in this case.
Attorney General Tom Corbett said that Adams, 48, 100 Hillcrest St. Philipsburg, is already facing 49 counts from two previous sets of drug charges stemming from a grand jury investigation last summer that found that Adams illegally prescribed narcotics to two drug-dependent people in return for cash and other favors.
Corbett said that these new charges came about when the investigation revealed two new witnesses who said that Adams liberally prescribed narcotics to them in return for favors.
According to the grand jury, the first of the two new witnesses became a patient of Adams several years after he suffered serious injuries in a construction accident. The witness testified that he would sometimes travel to West Virginia, New York or Ohio to pick up cars for Adams.
According to the grand jury, Adams compensated this witness for these favors by giving him money and liberally prescribing narcotics.
This investigation found that Adams examined the witness only once during the duration of the treatment, and Adams’ main treatment was to just increase the pre scri ptions for narcotics.
According to the grand jury, the witness told Adams that he had a problem with OxyContin and that he wanted to get off the drug. Adams responded by prescribing Suboxone, which is a drug commonly used to treat certain types of drug addictions. In several weeks, this was found to be ineffective, and Adams again began to prescribe OxyContin to him.
The investigation found that as the witness’ addiction grew, Adams accommodated his demand by increasing his pre scri ptions from a monthly basis, to twice a month, to once a week, until, in the fall of 2006, Adams was writing pre scri ptions twice a week.
According to the grand jury, Adams provided frequent pre scri ptions for schedule II controlled substances, including: Oxycodone, Hydromorphone, Fentanyl and Morphine.
According to the grand jury, the second of the two witnesses became a patient of Adams after he was hurt in a motorcycle accident. This witness said that he was only examined once by Adams, and that was on the first visit.
This witness testified that a typical visit to Adams was nothing more than a walk back to the treatment room where Adams would ask what he wanted, and would then write the pre scri ption.
According to the grand jury, this witness would sometimes transport vehicles that Adams purchased on eBay, and was usually paid with pre scri ptions. When he would do fewer favors, Adams would cut back on the pre scri ptions, but when he would do more favors, Adams increased frequency of the pre scri ptions.
According to the grand jury, Adams provided frequent pre scri ptions for schedule II controlled substances, including: Oxycodone, Hydromorphone, Fentanyl and Morphine, and Hydrocodone, a schedule III controlled substance.
According to the experts called on by the grand jury, the pattern of pre scri ptions prescribed between May 2004 and September 2007 to the first witness ensured that an insurance company would cover the pre scri ptions. Though the records were found to be incomplete and “clearly demonstrated that both individuals were drug addicted persons,” the records that were kept were consistent with testimony of the two witnesses.
Adams is charged with two counts of prescribing outside accepted treatment principles, two counts of dispensing or prescribing to a drug dependent person and two counts of refusal or failure to keep required records.
Arrangements are being made for the defendant to surrender. He will be preliminarily arraigned before Centre County Magisterial District Judge Allen Sinclair and prosecuted in Centre County by Senior Deputy Attorneys General Janice Martino-Gottshall and Larry Cherba.