NC doctor gets prison for selling phony opioid prescriptions in York County, SC
A North Carolina doctor has been sentenced to prison in South Carolina for selling phony opioid prescriptions, according to prosecutors and court records.
Byron Christopher Leak pleaded guilty Friday in York County criminal court to two counts of felony distribution of Oxycodone, said Dan Porter, 16th Circuit assistant solicitor.
Judge Brian Gibbons sentenced Leak to four years in prison in the S.C. Department of Corrections, followed by four years probation after prosecutors and Leak agreed to a negotiated plea, Porter said. The remaining 11 years of a 15-year sentence were suspended, records show.
Leak, 44, now lives in Raleigh, N.C., but was a doctor in Mecklenburg County in Huntersville, when arrested in 2018, according to court records.
Leak had originally faced oxycodone trafficking charges when arrested in 2018, but those charges were dismissed as part of the negotiated plea, Porter said. Leak had no prior arrest record. He was arrested after an investigation by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, Porter said.
Evidence presented Friday in court showed Leak sold the prescriptions, Porter said. The opioid prescriptions, made to fake patients, were taken to pharmacies in Fort Mill and Rock Hill to be filled, Porter said.
Opioids a pandemic nationally
Porter said he and 16th Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett told the judge in court that Leak violated the trust of the public by writing the phony prescriptions.
Oxycodone, known with street names such as “Hillbilly Heroin, Kicker, OC, Ox, Roxy, Perc, and Oxy,” is a pain medication available only by prescription, according to the DEA.
Opioid misuse and abuse, including Oxycodone, has become such a problem with overdoses and deaths in the United States that the DEA issued a public safety alert about illegal drugs on Monday.
Doctor had own substance abuse problems, lawyer says
Testimony in court Friday showed Leak had completed a substance abuse program while on bond after his 2018 arrest, said Leak’s lawyer, Twana Burris-Alcide. Leak also worked assisting others within the recovery community in Wake County, N.C., while on bond, Burris-Alcide said.
“The reality was that my client suffered from a drug addiction that lead to drug dealing to support his drug addiction,” Burris-Alcide said after court. “He was remorseful and repentant, and was willing to take responsibility. He has hope he can one day restore lives through his life, and create a map of rehabilitative restorations for anyone that suffers from addiction and substance abuse.”
Leak could be eligible for parole after serving about a quarter of his four-year sentence, Burris-Alcide said.
Leak surrendered his medical licenses in North Carolina and Ohio, lawyers in the case said.
