Diet doctor not guilty on 10 counts
COSHOCTON - A jury has found Dr. David Velasquez not guilty of 10 felony drug charges, but guilty of three others in connection with prescribing appetite suppressants through his now-closed weight-loss clinic.
Specifically, the panel found him not guilty of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and nine counts of drug trafficking, but guilty of permitting drug abuse and two counts of trafficking in drugs.
Judge Robert Batchelor read the verdicts just after noon Tuesday, after the jury had deliberated for slightly more than eight hours Monday night and Tuesday morning. Batchelor has ordered a presentence investigation before passing sentence. He has not yet scheduled a hearing for that sentencing.
Velasquez, 50, now of Columbus, said he does not agree with the verdicts and added: "Whatever punishment I receive as a result of this is for my beliefs.
"I am a man of faith, with values," he told reporters after the verdicts Tuesday in Coshocton County Common Pleas Court. "If this will be a lesson of my life, I will take it."
With Tuesday's verdicts, Velasquez could face a maximum of four years in prison — 1 1/2 years on each of the drug trafficking charges and one year for permitting drug abuse — according to defense attorney Dennis McNamara.
A conviction on engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity could have earned the doctor up to eight years in prison, McNamara said.
“I was certainly relieved that they got that one right,” he said.
Had he been convicted on all charges, Velasquez could have faced up to 25 1/2 years in prison, McNamara said.
"It's difficult to understand," Velasquez told reporters. "What did I do to deserve a criminal charge? I still don't understand why treating a patient is a felony."
Velasquez has maintained he has always looked out for his patients' well-being and said that since obesity is a long-term condition, he could not treat it successfully with medication for only 12 weeks, the limit the Ohio Medical Board has placed on prescribing phendimetrazine and phentermine, Schedule III and IV drugs, respectively.
Prosecutors tried Velasquez on 11 counts of trafficking in drugs; one count of permitting drug abuse; and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, prescribing and selling those drugs, at the former Center for Medical Weight Loss of Coshocton between January 2009 and December 2012. The clinic was actually in business from July 2009 through July 13, 2011, the day agents raided it.
McNamara said the split verdicts surprised him.
"I kind of assumed when we heard not guilty on count one (engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity), that we were going to hear not guilty on the other charges," he said.
The two drug trafficking convictions stem from Velasquez dispensing appetite suppressants to an undercover sheriff's deputy from March 9 through July 13, 2011, and to a patient who was under treatment from March 1, 2010, to May 16, 2011.
The female deputy's body mass index, a calculation of height and weight, ranged from 20 to 23, well below the 30 required to prescribe the medicines for most people, or 27 for those with certain medical conditions, Ohio Assistant Attorney General Brad Tammaro told jurors.
Both patients received medication beyond 12 weeks, as did the others.
Velasquez and Dr. David A. Bryman, of Scottsdale, Arizona, both testified for the defense that a proper course of treatment for obesity, a long-term condition, should meet a patient's needs, rather than adhere strictly to the BMI and the short-term, three months of medication.
In his instructions to jurors Monday, Batchelor said doctors following a bona fide course of treatment are exempt from following state prescription regulations if they deviate only slightly.
Velasquez's treatment included diet and exercise, and five patients listed in the indictment testified they all lost weight under the regimen.
Velasquez said he does not believe in cutting off a person's medication or treatment after just three months, and he said regulations must change.
"It was a case that needed tried," Coshocton County Prosecutor Jason Given said. "The state tried it. We're satisfied with the outcome of it. It's what the jury saw fit, and we're appreciative of their service and their time."
Prosecutors originally indicted the doctor on 97 counts in December 2012, but consolidated them for trial.
Velasquez is a native of El Salvador who now lives in Columbus and practices medicine in Westerville. He remains out on bond while awaiting sentencing.
His trial started Sept. 20 in Common Pleas Court
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