RENO, Nev. (AP) - A federal judge has refused to set bail for a Reno doctor who has been jailed for 10 months while awaiting trial on charges for his alleged role in an illegal prescription painkiller ring.
Dr. Robert Rand is scheduled to go to trial in April 25 on three felony drug charges, including one count of illegally distributing a controlled substance causing death.
U.S. District Judge Miranda Du denied Rand’s request during a hearing in Reno Tuesday to set bail and conditions under which he might be released. She said he presented a significant flight risk.
Rand, 53, and eight others were arrested last spring after a raid at a Reno car dealership.
The alleged ring-leader, Richard “Richie” West II, pleaded guilty last week to drug-trafficking and possession charges last week.
West, 40, admitted as part of a plea bargain agreement he bought oxycodone and other prescription opioids from Rand and sometimes sold the pills out of his pickup truck in the parking lot at the Jones West Ford dealership where West worked as manager and his father was the owner. His sentencing is set for May 8.
Federal prosecutors said the drug ring operated from November 2012 until April 2016. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration launched an investigation in 2015 after receiving tips that Rand was writing prescriptions for cash-only payments. He is charged with causing the October 2015 overdose death of Michael Yenick, 33, a former University of Nevada football player.
Rand has pleaded not guilty to that and two other drug-related charges. He faces a mandatory 20-year prison sentence if he’s convicted of the most serious charge.
“He’s got a good reason to flee,” Assistant U.S. Attorney James Keller said at the hearing, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Du agreed and sent Rand back to the Washoe County Jail. She set an evidentiary hearing for Feb. 22 on a number of defense motions, including Rand’s motion to suppress evidence his lawyers say includes confidential information seized illegally from his family practice.
Prosecutors say Rand routinely prescribed large amounts of opioids without evaluating patients, often times while he was traveling overseas. They said in court filings prior to Tuesday’s hearing Rand “even arranged a sign-in sheet at his office’s front desk for patients to pick up the narcotic prescriptions without seeing him.”
Jack Fox, one of Rand’s lawyers, said after the hearing he was disappointed Du wouldn’t consider setting bail “because Dr. Rand is innocent.”
“Innocent people should not be held in jail during pre-trial,” Fox told KRNV-TV.
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