MAHONING COUNTY Grand jury indicts doctor

The doctor was set for trial last week, but the charges were dropped.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A week after charges against him were dismissed, a 76-year-old doctor has again been indicted on drug trafficking charges.
A Mahoning County grand jury handed up a 30-count indictment Thursday against Dr. Skevos M. Zervos of Vienna.
He's accused of illegally selling a variety of prescription drugs including Demerol, Percocet, Tenuate, Fastin, Adipex and Dexedrine.
The reported violations occurred in 1995, 1996, 1998 and 1999, according to the indictment.
Dismissed
Zervos was originally indicted in 2000 on similar charges. That case was set for trial last week, but the charges were dismissed by Judge Jack Durkin of common pleas court.
The charges were dismissed because the indictment did not specify that Zervos was acting outside the scope of his role as a health-care professional when he administered the drugs.
The ruling was based on a motion to dismiss the charges, filed by Zervos' lawyer, J. Gerald Ingram, a day before the trial was to have started.
Ingram said he had not seen the new indictment, so he declined to comment on it.
Assistant Prosecutor Robert Duffrin, who presented the case to the grand jury, could not be reached to comment.
bjackson@vindy.com