COURTS: Palo Alto doctor sentenced

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/news/1997_Oct_24.LEVIN.html

Publication Date: Friday Oct 24, 1997

COURTS: Palo Alto doctor sentenced

Levin receives 10 months in jail for illegally prescribing drugs to himself

Dr. Roger Levin, a former Palo Alto physician who was arrested last year on charges of illegal drug prescription and possessing child pornography, was sentenced Friday to 10 months in jail.

Levin, 52, received a reduced sentence after agreeing to plead guilty to one count of illegally prescribing the painkiller Halcion to himself. In exchange, eight further charges of possessing child pornography and prescribing drugs illegally to patients were dropped.

According to Deputy District Attorney Michelle McCay-McCoy, all charges were taken into account at the time of sentencing, although some allegations filed in a police report could not be pursued because of the statute of limitations.

Levin's sentence in Santa Clara County jail isn't due to start until Dec. 29, 1997. According to McCay-McCoy, if he is accepted, Levin will take part in a work furlough program permitted by Judge LaDoris Cordell.

Under the terms of his sentence, Levin will be on probation for three years and, among other conditions, he is ordered not to live under the same roof as any person below the age of 18, said McCay-McCoy.

Levin lost his license to practice medicine in June 1996 and is currently unemployed. He has been free on bond since his arrest in September 1996.

Levin, who practiced internal medicine from Cowper Street in downtown Palo Alto, also faces a civil suit filed by a 21-year-old woman who claims that the doctor prescribed her drugs repeatedly until she became addicted.
--Vicky Anning