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Patient of suspended podiatrist seeks dismissal of drug and fraud charges

By Susy Kelly skelly@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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A suspended Laurel Highlands elementary teacher accused of sharing prescription painkillers with the podiatrist who wrote them appeared in Fayette County Court on Wednesday asking for charges to be dismissed.

Palmer Sabatine, 42, of Uniontown was charged with two drug violations and one count of insurance fraud.

Prosecutors allege William Ainsley, 39, whose license to practice is under suspension, prescribed hydrocodone to Sabatine 61 times between February 2012 and August 2014, and that each time, Sabatine split the prescription with Ainsley evenly.

Attorney David Kaiser, who represents Sabatine, argued the testimony Ainsley provided against Sabatine should not be considered credible, because Ainsley has admitted to being addicted to opiates, and he’s been in trouble for fraud in the past in California.

“The doctor is obviously preying upon all these patients,” Kaiser said, contending Ainsley, who also faces several charges, is trying to mitigate his responsibility by placing blame on people like Sabatine.

Ainsley testified Sabatine first came to him with foot pain in 2007, and that he had asked for a prescription for painkillers at that time. Ainsley said he also fitted him with shoe inserts to address the ailment.

“In 2012, he came back to the office and it was under the pretense that we would write prescriptions and split them,” Ainsley testified.

According to Ainsley, he wrote a prescription for Sabatine approximately once every seven to 10 days.

Most of the time, he said, he would pick up his portion of the pills at Sabatine’s home, often retrieving them from the console of Sabatine’s vehicle.

“Would you have prescribed hydrocodone for these symptoms if it weren’t for the addiction?” Kistler asked.

“No,” Ainsley replied.

According to Ainsley, there were four other patients within the same time frame who had identical agreements to split half their pills with him.

Kaiser pointed out that in a statement Ainsley gave investigators in August, he said none of the patients’ pain conditions were fabricated, that he would add some extra for himself, to feed his addiction.

Ainsley told the court that he has gotten sober since writing that statement, and has a different perspective, which is why he now believes none of the patients actually needed narcotics.

Agent Andrew Sakmar, an investigator for the AG’s office, testified Ainsley’s practice raised red flags because he was ordering medication to his office and also writing prescriptions. Agents tracked prescriptions through local pharmacies, and identified several people linked to Ainsley, including Sabatine.

Sakmar said he and another agent left their contact information with Sabatine’s father on the morning of Aug. 20, and soon received a call from Sabatine, who invited the agents to his house to discuss the matter.

Sakmar told the court he and the other agent identified themselves as law enforcement and explained to Sabatine that he was not under arrest.

“Mr. Sabatine confirmed he was a patient of Dr. Ainsley’s and that he had received prescriptions over the past four years,” said Sakmar.

“He initially denied giving prescriptions back to Dr. Ainsley,” he testified, but when Sabatine was confronted with evidence of the 61 prescriptions, he admitted he shared them on three occasions.

“Was it your intention to charge him with drug violations prior to speaking with him?” Kaiser asked on cross-examination, and Sakmar said it was not.

“Even though you had all these logs from the pharmacy and you had interviewed Dr. Ainsley?”

Sakmar replied, “That wasn’t determined at that point.”

“Did you tell him he was a suspect?” Kaiser asked.

“No,” said Sakmar. “We told him we were seeking voluntary cooperation to the questions we had.”

Kaiser argued that although the prosecution’s position is that Sabatine was not in custody, and invited the agents to his own home, Sabatine did not believe he was actually free to leave.

“The court could conclude that Mr. Sabatine was in a position that he had to answer these questions,” Kaiser said.

Kistler contended the interview was non-custodial, and the statements should not be suppressed.

President Judge John F. Wagner Jr. said he would hand down a decision on the matter as soon as possible.

In June, other former patients Scott Eugene Bloom, 43, of Hibbs, and Deven L. Saghy, 46, of Uniontown both entered general guilty pleas to drug and insurance fraud charges.

Randell Keith Rice Jr., 27, Carl Eugene Santavicca, 62, and Robert C. Woleslagle, 57, all of Uniontown, also former patients, were also charged with drug violations. They are all awaiting trial.

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