Dr. Mark Davis said very little as he stood in Judge Andrew Logan's Trumbull County Common Pleas Courtroom Tuesday to face two counts of trafficking in drugs. His guilty plea was about all the long time family physician had to say, but prosecutors offered much more.
According to an affidavit filed with the court, the State Board of Pharmacy has been investigating Davis for the last five years. The affidavit says former patients and members of his office staff, told agents they had sex with the doctor in exchange for prescriptions. The affidavit also states that agents had one informant bring in a video tape recorder into Davis's office to record one exchange.
One former patient of Davis, who sued him civilly, was in court to watch the proceedings. Even though Rose Copeland obtained an out of court settlement with the doctor, who she said provided her drugs that led to an addiction problem, she said that suit did not give her the closure she needed. "He continued to do what he was doing with disregard to human life and the value of another human being," Copeland said.
Davis is expected to be sentenced in about six weeks. He could get probation or up to two years in prison.
"Count two of the indictment says, 'on January 5th, 2007 this defendant gave a confidential informant Vicodin prescriptions in exchange for sexual favors.' We would enter the scripts as evidence," said Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor Gina Buccino-Arnaut.
