Dr. William J. O’Brien III, a former Bustleton-based family physician, has been convicted of illegally dispensing more than a half-million prescription pills in collaboration with the Pagans Motorcycle Club, a conspiracy that netted the doctor about $2 million in proceeds from 2012 to ’15 and resulted in the overdose death of at least one drug user.
A federal jury found O’Brien guilty on 123 of 127 counts on June 28 following a five-week trial that included 23 days of testimony from federal agents, physicians, motorcycle gang members and exotic dancers. O’Brien served as his own defense attorney. It took the jury of six men and six women less than a day of deliberations to reach a unanimous verdict.
O’Brien faces a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 20 years and possible life. A sentencing hearing is planned for Oct. 5 before U.S. District Judge Nitza Quinones.
“The illegal prescribing of opioid pain medications has led to an epidemic of overdose deaths and heroin addiction throughout the country,” U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said in a printed statement. “We are pleased that the jury saw through Dr. O’Brien’s clown act at trial and concluded that for the sake of profit he distributed opioid painkillers for no legitimate medical purpose, and that he caused the death of a patient through his illegal prescribing practices.”
According to testimony and charging documents in the case, O’Brien routinely wrote prescriptions for medications including oxycodone, methadone and amphetamines to visitors to his offices although O’Brien did not conduct required examinations or determine the visitors’ legitimate need for the drugs.
O’Brien collected cash payments for writing the prescriptions. Alternately, he accepted sexual favors as payment. O’Brien knew that his prescriptions would be used to supply the Pagans with pills for sale on the black market.
From March 2012 until the January 2015 grand jury indictment, O’Brien illegally dispensed about 378,914 oxycodone pills and 160,492 methadone pills. O’Brien practiced at 9892 Bustleton Ave. in the Northeast and 49 Rolling Lane in Levittown, in addition to other locations identified during the trial. ••
