S.F. doctor charged in homeless drug ring

A San Francisco doctor wrote bogus painkiller prescriptions for homeless people, who then traded the drugs for money in a scheme that netted the physician hundreds of thousands of dollars, federal prosecutors alleged.

Dr. Collin Leong, 68, pleaded not guilty last Wednesday at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to charges of drug dealing and conspiracy. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Investigators said Leong, in exchange for cash, issued prescriptions for oxycodone and hydrocodone to homeless people with no medical justification. The fake patients were recruited by a co-conspirator, investigators said, and would give the pills to a handler for cash after a pharmacy trip.

According to court documents, Leong told federal drug agents that he began writing the prescriptions six to seven years ago. He said he charged $80 to $150 for each one, pulling in about $400,000 in all.

Authorities recounted an undercover operation in which an agent allegedly bought 12 prescriptions from Leong for $1,000 for patients who were never examined. The agent said Leong asked him for MRIs and other medical records, in case investigators asked for proof that the prescriptions were necessary, according to court records.

"Either we hang together or we hang separately," Leong allegedly told the undercover agent, paraphrasing a quote from Benjamin Franklin.

Leong's alleged co-conspirator Rashid Islam - also known as Kevin Kenneth Wade - pleaded guilty to conspiring to deal drugs in June and was sentenced in September to six years in prison.

Garrick Lew, Leong's attorney, said his client got the attention of the Drug Enforcement Agency because of "the volume of prescriptions that were being written." Lew said Leong is a "longtime established" doctor in San Francisco's Chinatown neighborhood with a large client base, but he would not comment further on the case.

Leong's office on Clay Street and a second office in the Outer Sunset were still in business on Monday.