THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407210493
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
A doctor who pleaded guilty in May to 11 counts of prescription fraud has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Dr. William Frederick Wheeler, a 41-year-old general practitioner, also was charged with the illegal distribution of prescription drugs, including Ketalar, a general anesthetic commonly used by veterinarians that causes bursts of energy and hallucinations when abused by humans; the anti-anxiety drugs Xanax and Valium; and the narcotic painkillers Demerol and Vicodin.
Wheeler's plea agreement reduced the number of charges from 25 to 11.
Circuit Judge William Rutherford sentenced Wheeler Tuesday to 37 years, with 27 suspended. Wheeler also was sentenced to 10 years probation when he is released from prison.
The state Board of Medicine put Wheeler on probation in 1991, yet he continued to order drug samples from pharmaceutical companies, then traded the drugs for sex with boys and young men.
Wheeler was addicted to Ketalar, and by fall 1992 was injecting five vials of Ketalar in a typical weekend.
At that dosage, the effects mimic those of PCP - users turn violent. On Oct. 21, 1992, he threatened to kill a nurse with whom he lived and worked. She turned him in.
KEYWORDS: PRESCRIPTION FRAUD
by CNB