An East Liberty clinic ordered thousands of weight-loss pills over a five-year span, prompting an investigation that led to charges against three employees and a former nurse, authorities said on Tuesday.
"It's an appetite depressant and it's being ordered by an abortion clinic, so that raised a red flag," said Lauren Bozart, spokeswoman with the state Attorney General's Office, which joined the Drug Enforcement Administration in investigating the Allegheny Women's Center on North Highland Avenue.
The state charged Dr. John Barrett, 41, of Mt. Lebanon and Dr. Alton Lawson, 72, of Point Breeze with three counts of prohibited acts by a medical practitioner. Karen Kane, 63, of Penn Township in Westmoreland County and Mark Wagner, 48, of Swissvale face conspiracy and drug charges. All four were being processed in the Allegheny County Jail yesterday, Bozart said.
Clinic employees ordered more than 21,800 diethylpropion tablets from August 2006 through February of this year, according to criminal complaints. The DEA learned in January that the DEA identification number belonging to Barrett, the clinic's medical director, was used to order thousands of controlled substances, including the weight-loss drugs, the complaint said.
Clinic director Debra Miller told investigators she ordered the diethylpropion for Wagner, a lab technician, with approval from Barrett and Lawson, the previous medical director, the complaint said.
Miller, who was not charged in the case, did not return a message left at the clinic.
Miller said she thought Wagner was taking the pills for anxiety and depression issues, the complaint said. Miller could not explain the discrepancy when investigators pointed out that usage for three years would account for only 6,480 of the 18,400 tablets ordered.
When confronted by investigators, Wagner admitted sharing the tablets with Kane, a friend and former nurse, the complaint said.
Kane recently bought six bottles -- with 100 tablets in each -- from Wagner for $1,000, the complaint said. She said she used the medication to control her weight, but her doctor didn't know about it and most likely wouldn't prescribe it to her, the complaint said.
Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Cheryl Doubt said narcotics detectives haven't run across the drug.
"It hasn't been an issue for us so far," Doubt said. "It doesn't mean it won't be because they can catch on quickly, but it's nothing we've been acquainted with so far."
Lawson told investigators he knew of Wagner's history of manic depression and permitted Wagner to use his DEA number once to order the drug, the complaint said. Lawson, who works part-time at the clinic, said he didn't know how much Wagner ordered.
Barrett said that if he had known how much diethylpropion was being ordered, he would not have permitted it, but said he was guilty of a "lack of oversight," the complaint said.
Barrett also is employed by UPMC, which did not authorize him to work at the clinic, a non-UPMC facility, spokeswoman Gloria Kreps said. UPMC placed Barrett on administrative leave.
