Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, Miami Field Division, announced the sentencing of defendant Arthur Carl Haspel, 66, of Boca Raton, FL. U.S. District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez sentenced Haspel to 87 months in prison.

On April 6, 2011, Haspel pleaded guilty to an Information, which charged him with nine counts of distributing and dispensing oxycodone outside the scope of practice, in violation of Title 21 United States Code Section 841(a)(1). Today, Judge Jose E. Martinez sentenced Haspel to 87 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. This sentence was imposed to run consecutively to a 21 month sentence Haspel received on February 24, 2011, from U.S. District Court Judge Adalberto Jordan on Medicare fraud charges.

According to statements made in court and documents filed in the case, Haspel was doctor of podiatry, licensed to practice in Florida. For the last three years, Haspel worked as a partner in The Foot Doctors, LLP (Foot Doctor), located in Okeechobee, Florida.

Arthur Carl Haspel, due to a 2001 conviction for illegally trafficking hydrocodone in the Eastern District of Tennessee, was no longer registered with DEA, did not possess a valid DEA number, and, therefore, was not permitted by law to dispense controlled substances.

While working at Foot Doctors, Haspel wrote at least nine prescriptions between the dates of September 10, 2009, and October 21, 2009, for roxicodone, which is a brand name for oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance. Haspel admitted that he used the personalized prescription pad of the other doctor in his practice, and forging that doctor's DEA number and signature. Haspel admitted that he wrote the prescriptions without the permission of the other doctor, without any legal authority, and that he wrote the without a legitimate medical purpose.

Mr. Ferrer commended the DEA for their work in the case. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carmen Lineberger.

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A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.