Indicted doctor forfeiting assets
COEUR d'ALENE — Federal prosecutors have started civil forfeiture against a prominent Coeur d’Alene doctor and his wife as the couple's history emerges.
Dr. Stanley Toelle, 61, and his 51-year-old wife, Loren, were arrested last week as part of a multi-state drug ring bust. They were indicted in federal court, along with five other individuals, on charges ranging from money laundering to distribution of controlled substances.
Dr. Toelle was charged with conspiracy to launder money and faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. Authorities also began a civil case to seize funds associated with the alleged money laundering.
Loren Toelle was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and 13 counts of conspiracy to launder money. She faces up to 60 years in prison if found guilty. Authorities also began a civil case to seize funds associated with the alleged drug activity and money laundering.
Civil forfeiture is a legal mechanism that allows state and federal law enforcement agencies to seize assets potentially used in drug trafficking and/or manufacture. These assets range from cash and vehicles to equipment used to cultivate and create the drugs themselves.
The seizure triggers a separate court case, during which prosecutors must prove that seized assets were used in connection with a corresponding criminal case. Law enforcement agencies, as well as the prosecutors’ offices that try the cases, are able to use successfully seized assets within their agencies.
This isn’t the Toelles’ first run-in with the law.
In a 2010 case, the Toelles had more than $18,000 in cash, as well as other assets, seized through civil forfeiture by the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office. According to court records, Loren Toelle served three years in prison on one felony count of delivery of a controlled substance, which was connected to the forfeiture case.
Last year, the Idaho State Board of Medicine officially sanctioned Dr. Toelle. According to board documents, Dr. Toelle provided health care that failed “to meet the standard of health care provided by other qualified physicians in the same or similar communities,” as well as “prescribed or furnished narcotic or hallucinogenic drugs to addicted persons to maintain their addictions and level of usage.”
The sanction required Dr. Toelle to pay more than $2,000 in court costs, write prescriptions only for patients with confirmed gastroenterology diagnoses, take a chronic pain course approved by the board, take a record-keeping course, and report the sanction to any prospective employers.
In addition, the sanction required Dr. Toelle to refer any patients needing more than six months of pain medication to a chronic pain specialist. According to the documents, the sanction remains active until 2020.
Kootenai Health spokeswoman Kim Anderson identified Dr. Toelle as a gastroenterologist and said the hospital has placed him on precautionary leave.
Dr. Toelle is scheduled for a jury trial in federal court on March, 14. A trial date has not been set for Loren Toelle.