LAWRENCE — An FBI agent says Dr. Paul D. Weinstein used OxyContin prescriptions to sweeten a potential sale of his Lexis SUV last month.
He offered to provide the woman who was going to buy the car with two OxyContin scripts per month for 12 months and five OxyContin scripts to a government informant who was pretending to broker the deal, agent Steven Zeringue wrote in an affidavit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Boston.
The statement is part of the evidence filed by federal prosecutors who charged Weinstein, 57, of 52 Olympic Lane, North Andover in a criminal complaint with the illegal distribution of oxycodone.
Court papers allege that Weinstein made thousands of dollars selling illegal oxycodone prescriptions from his medical office, the North Andover Medical Center, located at Stadium Plaza off Route 114 in Lawrence.
Prosecutors say Weinstein sold the prescriptions to an undercover agent and a confidential informant on several occasions in February and March. FBI agents, joined by DEA agents and state and Lawrence police yesterday seized several boxes and other evidence taken in a raid of the doctor's office.
Weinstein faces up to 20 years in federal prison to be followed by up to three years of supervised release and a $1 million fine if convicted.
A woman who came to the front door of Weinstein's North Andover home last night said the family had no comment on the criminal charges.
Weinstein, who has been a doctor for more than three decades, was released on $100,000 bail. He is due back in court on May 7.
Prosecutors said Weinstein had lost his medical license for three years in the early 1990s for his involvement in a Medicare fraud scam.
Court papers filed yesterday say the FBI, DEA and state and city police have been investigating Weinstein since January after becoming aware that he was illegally writing prescriptions for oxycodone - a scheduled II controlled substance that is sold under various brands, including OxyContin and Percocet.
When a confidential informant came to Weinstein's medical office seeking three prescriptions of OxyContin pills, Weinstein said he couldn't do all three prescriptions at once and suggested that the man return with his wife.
"Weinstein further stated it would be better if the two individuals listed on the prescription had different last names," FBI agent Zeringue wrote in his affidavit.
Weinstein received $1,000 in cash for the two scripts.
On another occasion, the agent notes in his affidavit, Weinstein sent a prescription for a woman he had never met to a fake New Hampshire address used by federal agents - while on vacation in Florida.
During one trip to Weinstein's medical office, the informant received a medical examination without even having to take off his winter coat and then received a prescription for OxyContin.
