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Tampa Doctor Accused Of Illegally Prescribing Drugs

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 24, 2009

Updated: 03/24/2009 06:18 pm

TAMPA - An 83-year-old pain management doctor has been indicted on 10 charges of illegally prescribing pain and anti-anxiety medications from his Busch Boulevard office.

In a federal indictment unsealed today, John Rew is charged with improperly prescribing the painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax between April 2008 and January.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison on the charges involving oxycodone, up to five years for charges involving hydrocodone and three years for those involving Xanax.

The charges involve recorded visits by a cooperating witness who obtained "large quantities" of the drugs from Rew, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Howard-Allen during a bail hearing for Rew.

"We believe this is Dr. Rew's standard operating procedures," she said. The high volume of drugs, she said, would justify prison sentences.

Rew tested positive for barbiturates and opiates after his arrest at his medical practice this morning, Howard-Allen said. He surrendered his Drug Enforcement Administration registration number, which permitted him to prescribe certain drugs.

U.S. Magistrate Mark Pizzo allowed Rew to be released on an unsecured $50,000 bond with several conditions. He is not to practice medicine, including the prescribing of any drugs, while the case is pending.

Pizzo also required Rew to undergo drug testing and any recommended treatment.

Howard-Allen said investigators found two firearms in Rew's home, which he was legally allowed to have. Rew denied knowledge of a gun found at his medical practice, Howard-Allen said.

Pizzo ordered Rew to surrender all firearms and not to possess any while the case is pending.

Rew's lawyer, Ronald E. Perez, told Pizzo his client would not flee if released. Perez had no comment for reporters.

Howard-Allen said an initial records check showed Rew's medical license expired in January, which, if true, means he was practicing medicine without a license.

However, the state Department of Health's Web site lists Rew's license as active until January 2011.

The site says Rew reported no disciplinary measures in the last 10 years but did settle a liability claim in 2003 for $250,000. According to state records, the claim involved allegations that a patient became paralyzed in the upper extremities following a procedure administered by Rew.

Rew's son, Timothy, died of an overdose on May 22, 2006, at age 48. Rew wrote prescriptions for two of the four drugs that killed his son, according to Hillsborough County Medical Examiner records.

Rew also was named in a police report as one of the doctors who prescribed painkillers to professional wrestler Brian Adams, also known as "Crush," who was found dead of a drug overdose at his northeast Tampa home in 2007.

Rew was not charged in either of those cases and the charges listed in the federal indictment do not deal with those deaths.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837.

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