Ex-doctor expected to plead guilty to drug-dealing

SAUCIER — A former Mississippi doctor and another man are scheduled to plead guilty today to selling prescriptions for pain pills and anxiety drugs to people without a legitimate medical exam.

Authorities said Je Song, a former Stone County doctor, wrote prescriptions that ended up in the hands of people he never examined, and in some cases people he never even met. Six other people charged in the case are accused of acting as middlemen who sold the prescriptions to others.

Change of plea hearings for Song and an alleged accomplice, Oliver Shoemaker Jr., will take place today in U.S. District Court in Gulfport, court records said.

Their attorneys didn’t immediately respond to messages left yesterday by The Associated Press.

Four others indicted in the case have already pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

The 35-count indictment in the case said Song and the others conspired between December 2010 and May 2011 to sell narcotics like oxycodone, hydrocodone and alprazolam to people under the age of 21. Song is charged with 35 counts, including conspiracy and distributing controlled substances.

The others are accused of acting as middlemen who sold the prescriptions. Shoemaker is charged with five counts.

Song practiced in the South Mississippi town of Saucier before his arrest, but he no longer has a medical license.

Dr. Vann Craig, director of the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure, said yesterday that Song was not allowed to renew his Mississippi medical license when it expired June 30. He said the board sent Song a summons to appear before a disciplinary hearing to answer the allegations against him, but Song didn’t show up. His license was revoked after the hearing in September.

George Cowart, Jerry Spiers, John Segretto and Gary Crum have already pleaded guilty in the case.

The remaining defendant, Kevin Anderson, is scheduled for trial Nov. 28, but court records said he also hopes to reach a plea agreement.