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Ex-dental resident fined, gets 2 years’ probation
The former dental resident never sold prescriptions, the defense lawyer said.
YOUNGSTOWN — A former dental resident at St. Elizabeth Health Center has been sentenced to two years’ probation and fined $1,000 after pleading no contest to 10 counts of illegal processing of drug documents and two counts of attempted trafficking in drugs, all fourth-degree felonies.
Kurt P. Sommerfeld, 44, of New Castle received the sentence Monday from Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
While a dental resident, Sommerfeld wrote prescriptions on a hospital prescription pad for people who were not his patients and not hospital patients late in 2006 and early in 2007.
Sommerfeld was terminated from the dental residency in 2007 because of the charges, said Tina Creighton, hospital public relations specialist.
A residency is an advanced, specialized, hospital-based training program.
The 10 illegal processing counts say he issued “false or forged prescriptions” for the painkiller Oxycodone.
The two attempted-trafficking counts also pertain to Oxycodone and date back to March 23 and May 23, 2007. Those two counts were reduced from drug trafficking charges in a plea deal.
In the plea agreement, the prosecution also dropped seven illegal processing counts, 15 drug trafficking counts and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity that were contained in the original 35-count secret indictment filed Aug. 23, 2007.
Defense Atty. Samuel Amendolara said his client never sold prescriptions, but the law treats improperly giving them away the same as selling them for cash.
The judge warned Sommerfeld that any probation violation could mean six to 18 months in prison on each of the 12 counts to which Sommerfeld pleaded no contest.
In imposing probation, the judge noted that Jennifer McLaughlin Smith, assistant county prosecutor, and the Ohio Adult Parole Authority recommended probation and that Sommerfeld has no prior criminal convictions.
Sommerfeld apologized for his actions and said he plans to be a productive citizen and not to appear again in court as a defendant in a criminal case.
Amendolara said Sommerfeld, who never received an Ohio or Pennsylvania dental license, is barred from dental practice and is working for a catering firm.
Sommerfeld, who was doing a favor for someone he knew when he wrote the illegal prescriptions, never should have removed the prescription pad from the hospital, Amendolara told the judge.
“He made a mistake that has altered his future, and he’ll wear that scar for a long time,” Amendolara said.
The Ohio State Board of Pharmacy investigated the case after retail pharmacy personnel informed St. Elizabeth of an unusual number of New Castle-area residents appearing at a New Castle pharmacy with prescriptions from the hospital in Youngstown, Amendolara said. The hospital then contacted the pharmacy board, he said.
Amendolara attributed the long delay in disposition of this case to a lengthy investigation, plea negotiations and turnover of assistant county prosecutors. McLaughlin Smith was the third prosecutor on the case, following Kasey Shidel and Robert Duffrin, who are no longer with the prosecutor’s office.