The Associated Press State & Local Wire

May 10, 2003, Saturday, BC cycle

Seattle psychiatrist pleads guilty to scheme to get drugs

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 185 words

DATELINE: SEATTLE

A psychiatrist will be sentenced in July after pleading guilty in federal court to coercing his patients to obtain narcotics for him.
Dr. Steven P. Jewitt, 47, pleaded guilty to a single count of obtaining a controlled substance by deception, which is a felony.
While working with patients at the Seattle Veterans Administration Hospital, Jewitt prescribed large quantities of narcotics to at least 10 patients and then split the pills with them or took the prescriptions for himself, reimbursing the patients for the $10 insurance copayment.
Maximum penalty for the crime is up to four years in prison, although government prosecutors have recommended Jewitt serve six months of house arrest, undergo treatment and pay $8,600 in restitution.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Monica Benton set sentencing for Jewitt for July 18 before U.S. District Judge John Coughenour.
The plea ended a six-month investigation of Jewitt, whose scheme was exposed when one of his patients turned him in last October. The patient said he had been abusing the drugs the doctor had been sharing with him.