FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
September 10, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COLUMBIA DENTIST PLEADS GUILTY TO WRITING FRAUDULENT PRESCRIPTIONS TO OBTAIN DRUGS
Baltimore, Maryland - Dr. Keith A. Seicke, age 43, of Columbia, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to writing hundreds of fraudulent prescriptions to obtain hydrocodone and oxycodone, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to the plea agreement, from 2005 through 2008, Dr. Keith Seicke, a dentist, visited various pharmacies to receive large quantities of Hydrocodone, a Schedule III controlled dangerous substance. Dr. Seicke wrote hundreds of fraudulent prescriptions, using the names, dates of birth, and addresses of real individuals. Some of the individuals were deceased; others were previous dental patients of Dr. Seicke. The individuals did not know Dr. Seicke was using their personal information to obtain drugs. Using these fraudulent prescriptions, Dr. Seicke worked with a co-conspirator pharmacist to obtain Hydrocodone. Dr. Seicke personally visited the pharmacist at locations where he worked, including Ellicott City and Columbia, Maryland. Dr. Seicke would call the pharmacist only on the pharmacist’s cell phone to provide the prescriptions and always paid the pharmacist in cash for the drug transactions. On several occasions, the pharmacist met Dr. Seicke on the street to sell him the Hydrocodone.
As part of the investigation, DEA agents examined the prescriptions created by Dr. Seicke and found that most were for Hydrocodone and a smaller number were for Oxycodone. A federal search warrant executed at Dr. Seicke’s home recovered bottles of Hydrocodone prescriptions in other people’s names. At Dr. Seicke’s dental office, DEA officials seized records showing false prescriptions that Dr. Seicke was writing. Over the course of four years, Dr. Seicke falsely prescribed and obtained approximately 35,000 units of Hydrocodone, using misrepresentation, fraud, and deception to acquire drugs.
“Here is another example of how dangerous prescription drug abuse can be,” stated Ava Cooper-Davis, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “Dr. Seicke became a drug abuser himself and wrote hundreds of fraudulent prescriptions in order to feed his personal drug habit. The abuse of prescription medications is one of our leading law enforcement challenges and DEA is up to that challenge.”
Dr. Seicke faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison and a $250,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett has scheduled sentencing for November 24, 2009 at 9:00 a.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorney Kwame J. Manley, who is prosecuting the case.