Federal jury convicts Pinehurst doc of illegal painkiller distribution

COEUR D'ALENE - Rafael L. Beier, 62, of Kingston, Idaho, was found guilty yesterday by a jury on charges of conspiring to distribute oxycodone and hydrocodone, outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

The jury also convicted Dr. Beier on sixty-five distribution counts, including distributing oxycodone to a person under twenty-one. The jury’s verdict came on the second day of its deliberations.

Evidence at trial showed that between 2012 and May 2014, Beier met individuals at bars, parking lots, stores, and in his office, and sold prescriptions for cash. These prescriptions were for the highly addictive controlled substances oxycodone, adderall, and hydrocodone. The jury heard evidence that Beier created false medical charts to explain his illegal drug sales.

During the trial, the jury saw the prescriptions written by Dr. Beier, a video of Dr. Beier discussing his drug sales with a witness, and an audio recording of a government informant buying a prescription from Dr. Beier in a bathroom stall. Witnesses included co-conspirators who sold pills for Beier, people whose names were used on prescriptions, but were not patients, and a number of people who bought prescriptions from Dr. Beier. Several witnesses testified about the substantial negative effect that opioid addiction had on their lives.

“This defendant, as a licensed physician with the power to dispense powerful prescription drugs, had a responsibility to use that power to help and to heal,” said Olson. “These verdicts show that, instead, Dr. Beier time and again acted as a drug dealer, not a doctor.”

Beier faces a maximum prison sentence of up to twenty years in prison, a maximum fine of $1,000,000 and at least three years of supervised release on each count of conviction.

Beier did not appear to receive the jury’s verdict. A federal arrest warrant was issued.

The case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force (NIVCTF).