OXYCONTIN ARRESTS NET DOCTOR, GUARDS, FORMER COUNTY OFFICIAL

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. - A doctor, two prison guards and a former Allegheny
County treasurer's department official were charged with
participating in a large OxyContin ring.

Dr. Alan Egleston, 59, of New Wilmington, Lawrence County, was at the
center of the ring, writing hundreds of fraudulent OxyContin
prescriptions, charging $1,000 or $2,000 for each, Attorney General
Tom Corbett said Thursday.

In all, while working as an emergency room physician at Aliquippa
Community Hospital, Egleston wrote more than 320 fraudulent
prescriptions for more than 21,000 pills, Corbett said, and seven
other people were charged for various roles in the ring.

"This is a significant case," Corbett said. "And there are probably
other people (who were involved) who we haven't found yet."

Agents were tipped to the ring when nurses at Aliquippa said they
became suspicious because some patients would come to the emergency
room asking to see Egleston for treatment, but leave if he wasn't
working, the indictment alleges.

Among the others charged along with Egleston was Kevin O'Brien, 36,
of Pittsburgh, a former Allegheny County Jail guard who referred
addicts to Egleston and sold the drug himself, Corbett said.

Egleston and O'Brien face the most serious charges, with each facing
one count of participating in a corrupt organization, dealing in
unlawful proceeds and criminal conspiracy, among other charges.

John Good, 33, of Pittsburgh, a current jail guard placed on unpaid
leave Thursday, faces charges of possession with intent to deliver
and criminal conspiracy.

Deputy Warden Lance Bohn, who oversees the jail's operations, said
there will be an internal investigation to see if any of the drugs
O'Brien and Good allegedly obtained through Egleston ended up in the jail.

"I try to run an honest operation here at the jail," Bohn said, "and
if people are involved in those situations here they won't be working here."

Also charged was Pasquale Capizzi, 36, of Allison Park, a former
Allegheny County treasurer's office administrator, and Thomas Welsh,
48, a clerk in the office, who both resigned their posts in 2004,
Treasurer John Weinstein said.

Both Capizzi and Welsh were charged with obtaining possession of
controlled substances by fraud and criminal conspiracy.

The state grand jury indictment said that they both were fired after
being accused of dealing drugs on the job, but Weinstein said that
wasn't accurate.

He said he wasn't aware of any drug dealing in the office, though
"certainly with this indictment I'm concerned about that now."

Most of the eight people charged, including Egleston, O'Brien and
Good, were in custody, prosecutors said. Egleston and Good did not
comment as they were taken to Beaver County Jail on Thursday. Capizzi
and the others had non-published numbers and could not immediately be
reached by The Associated Press.

OxyContin is a time-release painkiller that can be highly addictive.
Designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills
can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted
or injected in one swift dose.