Murrieta doctor arrested by FBI agents

By: JOHN HALL - Staff Writer
Joel Dreyer, already facing local charges, now could go to federal prison | Thursday, February 14, 2008 10:49 PM PST ∞

FRENCH VALLEY ---- A Murrieta psychiatrist was arrested by FBI agents Thursday as he left a Southwest Justice Center courtroom, and he now faces federal charges for allegedly writing prescriptions for cash.

Joel Stanley Dreyer, 70, was surprised as two agents identified themselves, flashed badges and told him he was under arrest.

"What's this about? What's going on?" Dreyer asked.

One agent replied that he would explain it to him shortly.

As one agent handcuffed Dreyer in the foyer separating the courtroom from a courthouse hallway, Dreyer's attorney Wayne Rozenberg was handed a warrant authorizing the arrest.

"You said this would never happen," Dreyer told Rozenberg.

The defense attorney acknowledged him and told agents his client would exercise his right to remain silent.

They allowed Rozenberg to collect his client's valuables and the agents led Dreyer down the hallway, then outside to be taken to a federal detention facility for booking.

Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the United States attorney's office, said Dreyer was arrested on suspicion of federal narcotics distribution charges alleging he wrote prescriptions "for powerful and addictive painkiller to people he did not examine and who paid him $100 for the prescriptions."

When search warrants were served at Dreyer's office and Bear Creek home in July, authorities say they found documents showing that from 2005-07, Dreyer wrote prescriptions for more than 37,000 doses of Xanax, more than 68,000 tablets of a drug containing hydrocodone, and thousands of doses of other controlled substances.

At a court appearance days after his July arrest on state charges, Dreyer agreed to the suspension of his medical license for the duration of the criminal proceedings against him.

In an affidavit supporting the federal arrest warrant served Thursday on Dreyer, FBI Special Agent Fred Grimm wrote that he believes Dreyer "was not operating a legitimate medical practice and did not provide any legitimate medical treatment."

Based on information he received from a lengthy investigation by Murrieta police and federal narcotics agents, Grimm details some of the undercover work that ultimately led to Dreyer's arrest in July.

Included in those details were accounts of how Dreyer reportedly wrote prescriptions while standing in the lobby of a Murrieta gym without performing any examinations.

In February 2007, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent ---- wearing an undercover recording device ---- went to Dreyer's office seeking a prescription, according to the court document.

After no physical exam, a discussion and Dreyer telling her there would be a $100 charge for the prescription, Dreyer wrote a prescription for Vicodin and Xanax, Grimm wrote. She gave him $100 for the prescription and Dreyer told her, "And that, my love, is the game," the document states.

Grimm's affidavit also describes how, in November 2006, Murrieta police Detective John Nelson was contacted by a man whose sister died of a prescription drug overdose at her Newport Beach home.

The woman was found dead on Christmas Day 2005, and her brother told detectives he found evidence of prescriptions issued to his sister by Dreyer for Oxycontin and Ambien, the affidavit states.

An Orange County coroner's report states that the woman had more than 10 different prescription drugs in her system when she died, a death determined to be an accidental overdose, Grimm wrote.

A pharmacy specialist at UC San Diego said Thursday the line between prescription drugs being tolerated or toxic can be a fine one.

If prescriptions are not properly issued and carefully watched in conjunction with other drugs, "just one more pill can kill you," said Gordy McGuire. He has been a pharmacist since 1975 and teaches drug abuse courses in the college's doctor and pharmacist program.

"Someone who does this is no different to me than somebody selling cocaine or heroin on the street," McGuire said of the allegations against Dreyer.

"Professionals are not immune from going over to the dark side," he added.

When asked about the amount of doses authorities say Dreyer issued via prescriptions from 2005-07, McGuire said, "Those numbers do seem rather high."

He said he believes Dreyer was just "living on borrowed time" before authorities began investigating him. McGuire said every prescription issued by a doctor for a controlled substance is tracked through a state database.

Dreyer was in court Thursday in the belief he might be entering into a plea agreement with the Riverside County district attorney's office, which filed charges against him after a lengthy investigation by Murrieta police and state officials.

"We were ambushed," Rozenberg said by telephone Thursday after appearing with Dreyer at U.S. District Court in Riverside.

The defense attorney said he doesn't know why, as the case has been ongoing since July, that someone decided now that federal charges should be filed.

He said the federal case stems from the same set of facts that led to state charges being filed and that he sees nothing that has changed.

Dreyer has yet to be indicted by a federal grand jury, both Rozenberg and Mrozek confirmed.

Dreyer pleaded not guilty and was released after his federal court appearance Thursday after posting $50,000 bond, his attorney said.

Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, said there is still a preliminary hearing set for next month in Dreyer's case as filed by the district attorney's prosecutors.

"We plan to go forward with our case at this time," Wyatt said, adding that county prosecutors will be meeting with federal authorities to determine the best way to have Dreyer face the allegations against him.

In a news release, DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Timothy Landrum said, "The abuse of prescription drugs is a serious problem throughout the country."

He said 6 million Americans now abuse prescription drugs, "more than the number abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants combined."

"Unfortunately, there are a few doctors such as Dr. Dreyer using their position of trust in our communities to prey on those who are vulnerable to the abuse of these drugs," Landrum said.

Federal officials say that the charge in the present criminal complaint against Dreyer carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in a federal prison.

Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.

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