Wareham,Massachusetts - from www.myfoxboston.com - A local dentist is under arrest, charged with writing prescriptions for painkillers in exchange for sexual favors
Wareham dentist Steven Miller, 68, is facing federal drug charges and is being held in custody tonight after agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration and local police raided his office and arrested him earlier today.
Investigators say he prescribed drugs to more than 300 patients, something they say is quite unusual for a dentist. Wareham police were tipped off about him, and then the DEA stepped in.
“They weren't written to them for an ailment. If you went to your doctor and you had a back pain and the doctor legally gave you a prescription. These were given illegally,” said Wareham police Det. Sgt. Doug Jacinto.
FOX Undercover also got a tip, and sent someone in for an appointment armed with a hidden camera just a day before the raid.
“My name is Whitney, and I get this a lot. People say oh, like Whitney Houston, and it was followed up by a comment, “Oh, you're so beautiful, you should be a singer or an actress just like her,” the person said.
“It was off it was the way it was said, and coming from a professional, someone in that position. We don't have that type of relationship. I've never met him before but the first thing he said to me just didn't seem right,” she said.
Whitney complained to Dr. Miller about tooth pain. She says he wanted to perform a procedure, but she declined and left.
Asked if he gave prescriptions to people in exchange for sexual favors, Dr. Miller had no comment. But court documents detail the allegations against him.
A DEA agent writes in an affidavit that Dr. Miller prescribed controlled substances in exchange for sexual favors such as “the feeling of breasts or buttocks.”
Another patient looking for a prescription says the doctor told her, “You need a slapped ass,” and then asked to see her breasts.
This isn't the first time Dr. Miller is in trouble with the law. He pleaded guilty in 1986 to Medicaid fraud and larceny charges and paid a $25,000-dollar fine.
A friend and patient of his was stunned by the latest allegations.
“I’m just amazed. I can’t believe it. It’s all new to me. I've never known that side of him. I've only known the other side,” the friend said. “He's a fine dentist and excellent work that he does and a great community man.”
Miller is being held without bail pending a hearing Wednesday in US District Court in Boston. He has already surrendered his license to practice dentistry.
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
