Bail Denied Pharmacist Accused of Diluting Drugs
The Kansas City druggist accused of diluting cancer drugs to boost his profits has been ordered held without bail. A judge ruled multimillionaire Robert Courtney was a flight risk.
This came as the FBI expanded its investigation--bringing in additional agents to sift through records to try to determine whether any cancer patients died because their drugs were diluted. Cynthia Bowers has the details.
The federal magistrate today ruled against bail even though the charge against 48-year-old Robert Courtney of altering a drug carries only a 3-year prison sentence and a fine of $250,000. The government believes that because the drug altered was a potentially life-saving chemotherapy drug, the case is also a matter of life and death.
"We're bringing in extra agents," says FBI special agent Judy Lewis. "We're doing everything we can to find these people."
Prosecutors say Courtney has admitted to diluting four different chemotherapy drugs and dispensing them "out of greed."
Courtney reportedly told investigators only 50 or so cancer patients were given the diluted drugs, but the government's not so sure. Already more than 1,200 calls have come into an FBI hotline set up to help find these people quickly. A number of families say their loved ones’ deaths may been hastened if not caused by Courtney.
That anger met with disbelief in an emotional hearing today as a parade of Courtney's friends and family including his wife testified the father of five is not the type to flee prosecution.
The federal magistrate weighed a number of factors, like Courtney's expensive home and $10 million in assets that gave him the means to flee, and in addition to the criminal charges, pending civil lawsuits may provide him the motive despite lifelong ties to Kansas City. Sources say additional charges will be filed, but one legal expert says linking the diluted drugs to any particular death may be almost impossible.
Adre Moenssens of the University of Missouri Law School says, "How are we going to determine whether it was the diluted drug that caused you to pass away? How are we going to determine whether or not you would have passed away at exactly the same time if you had gotten the proper drug?"
The case now goes to a federal grand jury sometime within the next 30 days and should come to trial sometime this fall. For the time being, Robert Courtney will be held in the federal prison at Leavenworth.
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