PLASTIC SURGEON CHARGED IN DRUG OVERDOSE DEATH OF FRANKLIN MODEL

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. -- A former Nashville plastic surgeon who has been
disciplined by medical boards in Tennessee and Illinois has been
charged with murder in the drug overdose death of a model.

Dr. Christ Pete Koulis was arrested Tuesday in Wilmette, Ill., on
charges of second-degree murder and reckless homicide in the July 4
death of Lesa R. Buchanan, a woman with whom investigators say he had
a six-year romantic relationship.

This is the second time that Koulis has been arrested on charges
involving giving Buchanan illegal narcotics that sent her to the
hospital, a fact that will be used in the prosecution's case, said
District Attorney Ron Davis.

"We're going to use it as proof of intent," Davis said Wednesday.

Buchanan was living in Franklin, a Nashville suburb, when Koulis, who
worked in private practice in Illinois, came down to spend the Fourth
of July holiday with her, investigators said.

"They apparently had a long-distance relationship," Franklin
detective Eric Anderson said.

That night, Buchanan was taken to Williamson Medical Center, where
she was pronounced dead from an "acute multiple drug overdose,"
Anderson said. Authorities declined to say which drugs were found in
Buchanan's body.

Koulis has a long history of disciplinary problems for multiple
charges of mishandling drugs as a plastic surgeon in both Tennessee
and Illinois. He eventually lost his Tennessee license in 2004, and
Illinois suspended his license in August, according to regulatory
records in both states.

Koulis came to Tennessee for his plastic surgery residency at
Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 1997 and then worked at a
private practice with staff privileges at three Nashville hospitals,
according to the state Department of Health.

His physician's license was suspended in May 2002 and revoked two
years later on drug-related charges, including habitual intoxication,
personal misuse of drugs and illegal prescribing of drugs, according
to the Tennessee Department of Health.

Two months after his suspension, Koulis was arrested in Boone County,
Ky. on charges that he illegally supplied narcotics to Buchanan, who
was living in Walton, Ky., at the time.

Koulis was arrested after Buchanan was treated at a hospital for a
severe infection. Koulis pleaded guilty to one charge of dispensing a
controlled substance and was sentenced to probation in 2003.

Despite his suspended Tennessee license, the state of Illinois
granted Koulis a medical license in December 2003 on the condition
that another physician stay with him whenever he met with patients.

He worked at a private practice until August 2005, when his license
was suspended after the Illinois Department of Financial and
Professional Regulation found he had been seeing patients alone.

Koulis remained in custody in Illinois Wednesday. Davis said he is
confident that Koulis will waive extradition from Illinois.