Delco doc gets up to 20 years for drug sales
A Delaware County physician who sold OxyContin, Vicodin, and Adderall and other drugs to undercover officers was sentenced Wednesday to 10 to 20 years in jail.
A Delaware County physician who sold OxyContin, Vicodin, Adderall, and other drugs to undercover officers was sentenced Wednesday to 10 to 20 years in prison.
Lawrence Wean, 61, of Media, who had an office in the 600 block of Baltimore Pike, Springfield Township, was found guilty in October of writing unlawful prescriptions and filing false insurance claims.
Wean had rejected a more lenient plea deal before going to trial.
The term imposed by Delaware County Court Judge Anthony Scanlon was steeper than the one requested by the prosecution. In addition, Wean was ordered to pay more than $40,000 in fines and $62,000 in restitution.
"Doctor, you had a professional medical duty, and you failed in that duty," Scanlon said.
Wean was arrested in December 2014 after he gave two undercover officers powerful narcotics without asking about medical histories or diagnosing their pain.
Wean saw the two county detectives as patients for three months. He then filed insurance claims for the visits, billing for care they did not receive.
Wean has been a doctor for 35 years and had no previous record, said his attorney, Arthur Donato.
Deputy District Attorney Sharon McKenna said Wean was fueled by "arrogance and greed," and prescribed more than 12,000 narcotic pills to eight patients prosecutors interviewed for their investigation.
Wean was overcome with emotion as he apologized and asked for leniency.
"Although I thought I was doing right, I was not," he said.
Jessie Greer, 71, of Oxford, Chester County, and Ron Tegethoff of Springfield attended the sentencing. Greer and Tegethoff said each had lost an adult child because Wean overprescribed narcotics.
Greer said she went to confront Wean in February 2011 to ask him not to prescribe more drugs to daughter Crystal, who had recently been released from a drug rehabilitation facility.
The next day, Jessie Greer received a call from Oxford police telling her to go to a hospital. "It was too late," she said.
Tegethoff found his son David, 50, dead on Jan. 3, 2015, with a prescription bottle by his side, he said.
Wean "had no sympathy for people whatsoever," he said.
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