Psychiatrist extradited to face charges in patient's suicide

As reported in The Coloradoan.

Dr. Christian Hageseth III of Fort Collins has been extradited to California to face charges that he illegally prescribed Prozac for a Stanford student who later committed suicide.

Hageseth, a psychiatrist, was to enter a plea Friday in San Mateo County, Calif., to one an count of practicing medicine without a license. However, the judge delayed the hearing until Tuesday so that she could consider defense motions filed earlier this week regarding Hageseth's bond.

Hageseth is expected to enter a not-guilty plea to the charge, San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

Hageseth was extradited from Nebraska, where in October he was arrested near Sidney during a traffic stop.

Authorities say Hageseth prescribed Prozac for John McKay through the online pharmacy USAnewRX.com. At the time, Hageseth’s restricted medical license did not allow him to give prescriptions.

Two months later, McKay killed himself. He was found with alcohol and the drug in his system.

Hageseth lost his license in Colorado in 1999 due to a relationship that led to his marriage to a former patient, Laurel Burson. However, in 2001, the state Court of Appeals reversed the Colorado State Board of Medical Examiners decision and reinstated Hageseth’s medical license. Still, under the conditions of his reinstated license, he was not allowed to write prescriptions.

Hageseth is being held on $500,000 bond.

Thiensville psychiatrist in court, captured after manhunt

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A former Thiensville psychiatrist who, along with his lawyer girlfriend, led police on a High Plains manhunt that ended in Tennessee this year was back in Ozaukee County Circuit Court Friday on charges he stole the identity of his ex-wife and used it to open bank accounts, apply for credit cards and buy jewelry as revenge for her seeking child support from him.

Judge Joseph D. McCormack scheduled a preliminary hearing for Tuesday in the case of Lyndon K. Steinhaus, 47, who is in custody in the Ozaukee County Jail after spending the last nine months in a Gillette, Wyo., jail.

Steinhaus and Darcy Bogenrief, 42, sent taunting e-mails to his ex-wife, a criminal complaint says.

They used the woman's identity to take an online questionnaire, "Are you a slacker mom?" and sent the results to her; purchased a subscription to the Brotherhood of Father's Rights newsletter; and filed a change of address so that her mail would be forwarded to Oregon, the complaint says.

Steinhaus and Bogenrief were arrested in Gillette on Nov. 8, 2006. Steinhaus was employed there by a hospital as a child psychiatrist after he worked for years as a psychiatrist in Ozaukee and Washington counties.

Steinhaus and Bogenrief are each charged with one felony count of identity theft for financial gain. If convicted, they could be imprisoned for six years and be fined $10,000.

Bogenrief is a Cedarburg native and a Marquette Law School graduate.

"Both of them have special needs that were the catalysts for his actions," Frank Schiro, Steinhaus' lawyer, said Friday.

After being arrested and posting bail in Wyoming, the pair took off on a two-week, cross-country spree that included crossing into Canada, where Bogenrief was arrested for suspicion of drunken driving; and posting bond in Montana by leaving behind a BMW.

They were finally arrested in Brownsville, Tenn., when they stopped at a check cashing store in an attempt to get an advance on a federal income tax refund.

When the tax preparer called the Internal Revenue Service, the preparer was alerted through the National Crime Information Center that the couple was "suspicious."

Steinhaus also was charged in Wyoming with 27 misdemeanor counts of illegally prescribing more than 3,000 tablets of Methylin and methylphenidate hydrochloride, which are closely related to the drug Ritalin, to Bogenrief from May 18 to Oct. 26.

Steinhaus served nine months in jail in Gillette on those charges and then was extradited to Ozaukee County, Schiro said.

Steinhaus is being held on a probation violation in the Ozaukee County Jail stemming from a third drunken-driving charge in Milwaukee County.

According to Wyoming court records, Bogenrief was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect for charges filed in Wyoming and was committed to a mental health facility.

Bogenrief appeared in Ozaukee County Circuit Court in September and was freed on a signature bond. McCormack allowed her to return to Wyoming to continue receiving treatment. She is due in court Nov. 12.

Convicted Child Molester Psychiatrist Captured, being returned to USA

As seen in this report

A convicted child molester who skipped out on his parole last year will arrive at Newark Liberty International Airport this morning under armed escort from India where he was arrested in May, a state Division of Parole spokeswoman said Saturday.

Alan Horowitz, 60, will be extradited from New Jersey under a New York arrest warrant issued after he ducked out of the U.S. after meeting with his parole officer on June 7, 2006.

"We're getting him back," said Carole Weaver, the division spokeswoman.

Horowitz was out on parole for his 1991 conviction for first-degree sodomy after he pleaded guilty to an incident involving a 9-year-old boy in Schenectady County.

Horowitz, a former adolescent psychiatrist, served more than 13 years of his 10- to 20-year sentence before he was released on parole in 2004. He was in contact with state officials, saying he was living in an apartment complex in Israel. He said he would never return to the U.S. He then fled to India where he was arrested. U.S. marshals are escorting him back from India.

Horowitz will appear in a New Jersey court the week of July 16 for an extradition hearing, Weaver said.

He'll then head to Schenectady County, where he will face charges for parole violation, Weaver said. His original sentence for the sodomy conviction runs through June 28, 2011.

Doctor can be tried for out-of-state prescription in suicide case

from the San Mateo Daily Journal

A Colorado doctor who filled an online Prozac prescription for a 19-year-old Stanford student who later committed suicide can be tried in San Mateo County for practicing medicine without a license, an appellate court ruled.

The decision means psychiatrist Dr. Christian Ellis Hageseth III, 65, can be extradited from his Colorado home back to San Mateo County where he has a $500,000 arrest warrant. The court’s ruling dissolved a stay of Hageseth’s prosecution, paving the way for prosecutors to pick up where they left off last August.

Judge Carl Holm refused to dismiss the case on grounds California has no jurisdiction to try Hageseth under state law but defense attorney Carleton Briggs appealed. Briggs argued prosecuting Hageseth opens the door to trying thousands of out-of-state physicians who participate in so-called telemedicine and beyond.

“The key seems to be if the practitioner knew the patients resided in California but the decision doesn’t seem to limit it just to telemedicine,” Briggs said. “There are potentially thousands of practitioners who can be affected.”

The court held that Hageseth is liable if found to commit a crime “in whole or in part” within the state, according to the opinion by Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline.

Hageseth should have known state authorities would not take lightly his filling a California prescription without a license, Kline said.

But Briggs said the ruling is creating new law, meaning there was no way for Hageseth to know previously about the responsibility.

Hageseth is charged with one felony count of practicing medicine without a valid California license. A conviction can carry up to three years in prison.

In June 2005, John McKay, a freshman at Stanford University and former student at Menlo-Atherton High School, purchased 90 capsules of generic Prozac via credit card at the online pharmacy site USAnewRX.com which was then shipped from the Mississippi-based Gruich Pharmacy Shoppe.

Online sites like the one used by McKay do not require a physical examination prior to receiving a prescription. Instead, the buyer fills out an online questionnaire which a doctor is supposed to review before signing off on the drugs.

According to previous news reports, McKay requested the drug to treat moderate depression and adult attention deficit disorder. He reportedly wrote on his application that he had taken the drug before and was not suicidal.

Hageseth reportedly signed off on the prescription of flouxetine without a consultation. On Aug. 2, McKay committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, reportedly with alcohol and flouxetine in his system.

The following February, McKay’s parents, David and Sheila, filed a federal lawsuit against Hageseth and the pharmacies, alleging negligence and wrongful death.

Meanwhile, the Medical Board of California launched its own investigation and the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges last May.

At the time of McKay’s online purchase, Hageseth had a restricted medical license at the time because of an unrelated relationship with a patient he later married and was not allowed to fill prescriptions. He currently does not have a Colorado medical license because it was suspended after the charge, Briggs said.

The McKay’s federal lawsuit is still pending but it along with the criminal case is being watched by online pharmacy critics who believe it is poorly regulated.

Hageseth shouldn’t have filled a prescription without a good-faith examination, Briggs conceded, but that is not the issue at hand.

“The charge is practicing without a license. What he did was write a prescription and from beginning to end the entirety of the act occurred in Colorado,” Briggs said.

The State Attorney General’s Office filed a brief on behalf of the Medical Board noting it receives a number of complaints about Internet prescriptions filled by out-of-state doctors and has tried limiting the activity, according to the appeals court.

Briggs said he and Hageseth will decide in the next few days first if they’ll fight the decision in court and, if not, if he will wait for extradition or come voluntarily to California.

Briggs is hopeful local authorities will allow Hageseth to remain in Colorado on his own recognizance.

Notorius US Psychiatrist and Pedophile Arrested in India

As Reported by the BBC

Police in India's southern Tamil Nadu state say they are awaiting a request from the US authorities to extradite a convicted American paedophile.

Alan J Horowitz was detained in the seaside resort of Mahabalipuram near Madras (Chennai) on Wednesday.

He is wanted by Interpol and listed among the 100 most wanted men in New York. He was convicted in 1991 for sexually abusing numerous children.

He spent 15 years in a US jail and violated his parole in 2004.

'Sexual predator'

Indian police say they closed in on Horowitz in Mahabalipuram, a popular tourist spot 50km (30 miles) from Madras, after an 11-month chase across Asia.

Tamil Nadu state police chief D Mukherjee said an alert had been issued by Interpol for Horowitz's arrest.

A child psychiatrist and an ordained Jewish rabbi, 60-year-old Horowitz was a notorious sex offender.

His listing on the New York State Division of Parole website says he sexually abused "numerous underage males and females known to him through his position of authority".

The Division of Parole's head, George Alexander, said in a statement: "We are extremely pleased to have this dangerous sexual predator in custody and look forward to bringing him back to New York."

Horowitz violated his parole last year and fled the US using fake travel documents.

He is thought to have spent time in Thailand and Hong Kong before arriving in the southern Indian city of Bangalore a fortnight ago.

Interpol are believed to have tracked him to Mahabalipuram, where he checked into a hotel.

Following information from Interpol, US diplomats then alerted the Tamil Nadu police who moved in.

The BBC's TN Gopalan in Madras says that with Horowitz now in custody, extradition proceedings are expected to begin soon.

See also this report:

Alan Horowitz, the notorious child molester who boldly dispatched a good-bye letter of sorts to his parole officer last year after bolting abroad, has been arrested in India, authorities said.

The arrest -- made Tuesday in India at 3:48 p.m., which was early Tuesday here -- ends a remarkable 11-month global manhunt for a man authorities describe as a remorseless predator with a brilliant mind.

A tip e-mailed to the "America's Most Wanted" television program steered authorities toward Horowitz -- one of New York's 100 most-wanted fugitives -- in Mahabalipuram, a city of about 12,000 on India's southeastern coast, parole officials said.

The U.S. Marshals Service, which joined the hunt for the Harvard-educated Level 3 sex offender in November, confirmed that Horowitz, 60, a trained rabbi, had been taken into custody.

Citing the sensitivity of the process of having Horowitz returned to the United States, the federal agency declined further comment.

Horowitz is being held on a U.S. warrant and is not accused of additional crimes in India, said Mark Johnson, a spokesman for the state Division of Parole.

Johnson said local authorities are examining Horowitz' travel documents, which included U.S. and Israeli passports. It could be days or weeks, he said, before Horowitz is returned to the United States, where he would face at least a parole violation, if not more charges.

The former psychiatrist who specialized in adolescents has dual citizenship in the United States and Israel. But he had no permission to leave the country, parole officials have said.

Retired Schenectady Police Investigator Peter McGrath, who tracked Horowitz across the country while trying to build a case against him more than a decade ago, said Tuesday he never doubted authorities would eventually find the man, who he counts among the most cunning predators he ever encountered.

"I knew they would (get him). I know the guys working on the case, and I knew they would," a pleased McGrath said after he was told of Horowitz' apprehension. "That's great."

In 1991, Horowitz was charged in Schenectady with more than 35 counts of sexual abuse and sodomy against three boys and a girl, all younger than 17. He later pleaded guilty and served more than 13 years in prison before he was paroled in 2004 as a highest-level sex offender.

Horowitz' documented criminal past dates to at least 1982 in Maryland, where he received five years' probation for "perverted sex practices," according to parole officials. But McGrath has said he believes there were more victims elsewhere who never came forward.

Once he was paroled in New York, Horowitz abided by the strict conditions of his release for about two years before apparently hopping a plane from New Jersey to Tokyo last June 8, just 24 hours after meeting with his parole officer, authorities have said.

Later that month, Horowitz' parole officer received a letter from him postmarked in Israel saying he'd never return to the United States -- a clear-cut violation of his parole, which lasts until 2011.

About the same time Horowitz jumped parole, he informed another branch of state law enforcement -- the Division of Criminal Justice Services, which runs the sex offender registry -- that he was supposedly living in a Tel Aviv apartment complex. Whether he ever did, and where else he may have visited while on the run, was not clear Tuesday.

Jon Leiberman, a correspondent for "America's Most Wanted," which aired a segment on Horowitz in February, said the tip that turned the case came early this month.

"Obviously he thought he could go to India and blend in," Leiberman said.

Former psychiatrist caught after holiday crime spree

More on the now infamous Lyndon Steinhaus, and Darcy Bogenrief, as seen here

A former psychiatrist from Thiensville and his girlfriend face a laundry list of charges, mostly in Wyoming.

Lyndon Steinhaus, 47, and Darcy Bogenrief, 41, are in jail in Brownsville, Tenn., but only after a two-week holiday manhunt that reportedly included drunk driving in Canada, the trashing of a hotel room in South Dakota, and leaving behind a BMW in Montana as bond. They’ll be extradited to Gillette, Wyo., for a court hearing late next month.

For starters, Steinhaus is charged in Ozaukee County with stealing his ex-wife’s identity to open bank accounts, get credit cards, and buy jewelry. It was apparently in retaliation, after she tried to make him pay child support.

In Wyoming, he and Bogenrief face similar identity theft charges after he became a child psychologist there. Authorities said Steinhaus prescribed extra Ritalin that apparently made its way to methamphetamine users.

They were finally caught when they tried to get an advance on their tax returns, and the Internal Revenue Service flagged them as being wanted.

Bogenrief is an attorney, and her mother said she has a serious mental condition.

Steinhaus was a psychiatrist for years in southeast Wisconsin, specializing in treatment for alcohol and other drugs. But officials said he struggled with abuse himself. He still faces a third drunk driving charge from last June in Milwaukee County.

3rd time is charm for psychiatrist and girlfriend

From the Gillete News Record

Lyndon Steinhaus and Darcy Bogenrief were able to dodge fate once. They were even able to do it a second time.

But three times turned out to be pushing their luck too far.

That's how many times law enforcement caught up with the on-the-run former Campbell County Memorial Hospital psychiatrist and his live-in girlfriend before the couple was held for good.

Steinhaus and Bogenrief, 46 and 41 respectively, were originally arrested in November after they allegedly tried to use the identity of Steinhaus' ex-wife to order jewelry, pay off overdue debt and make bank transfers. The couple made an initial appearance in Circuit Court in December on charges of identity theft and conspiracy to commit identity theft and were released on bond.

Soon afterward, deputies tried to serve Steinhaus with an eviction notice for the hospital-leased apartment he and Bogenrief had been living in, hospital lawyer Tom Lubnau said Thursday at a Circuit Court eviction hearing.

Bogenrief, an Illinois lawyer, had asked for permission to spend Christmas in Mound City, S.D., but neither she nor Steinhaus were where they said they'd be.

Several days before Christmas, deputies tracked Steinhaus down at a Belle Fourche, S.D., motel room, Lubnau said. However, the psychiatrist skipped town before they were able to serve him with the eviction notice.

“Mr. Steinhaus was on the lam and in violation of his bond at that point,” Lubnau noted at Thursday's hearing.

The couple popped up again Dec. 23 when they tried to cross the Canadian border near Shelby, Mont., Lubnau said. Canadian authorities noticed that Bogenrief was drunk, searched the couple's car and found the Campbell County bond papers.

The Canadians detained the couple and notified Shelby and Campbell County authorities, at which point Bogenrief was also arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, Lubnau said.

Steinhaus was released on bond, he said. However, Campbell County faxed Shelby a new warrant against Steinhaus for prescription drug fraud, and they rearrested him and then released him on a $10,000 bond.

Steinhaus was scheduled to appear for a hearing to determine whether to extradite him back to Wyoming, Lubnau said. But he never showed at the hearing.

Brownsville, Tenn., police came across the couple Thursday for the third - and final - time. Officers stopped the couple on suspicion of reckless driving, and their names popped up on a national crime database, said Brownsville Assistant Chief Johnny Blackburn. The couple has waived extradition back to Wyoming, he said.

Campbell County Investigator Duane Peyrot said Bogenrief and Steinhaus are now being held on a $500,000 cash-only bond.

Meanwhile, Steinhaus is facing added drug charges locally, with the possibility of federal drug charges.

The state Pharmacy Board's records show that Steinhaus wrote about two dozen separate prescriptions to Bogenrief between May 18 and Nov. 27. The prescriptions were for methylin and methylphenidate hydrochloride, which are generics for the attention deficit disorder drug Ritalin.

In all, Steinhaus allegedly issued about 3,000 tablets, or about 64,800 milligrams of the drugs, according to court documents. If Bogenrief had taken the maximum recommended dosage every one of the 193 days between May 18 and Nov. 27, that would have totaled only 11,580 milligrams.

Steinhaus is now charged with 27 counts of unlawfully dispensing a controlled substance.

Peyrot and Lubnau said investigators also were told about a package of prescription drugs that was mailed to Steinhaus' workspace from Pakistan. Hospital staff notified Campbell County investigators about the package soon after.

Peyrot did not want to comment on the details of that case because it is international in nature and could eventually be turned over to another agency.

Magistrate Kenneth DeCock agreed at Thursday's hearing that deputies and the hospital could go ahead and kick Steinhaus out of the hospital-leased apartment.

Hospital Interim CEO Andy Fitzgerald said the hospital fired Steinhaus in November but gave him until Dec. 15 to move out. When they checked the apartment after his arrest, though, they found the “significant damage to every room in the house, including the furniture.”

“I just, assumed, being a medical doctor, a psychiatrist, that he would clearly move out when he indicated he would,” Fitzgerald said.

Russia Releases European Psychiatrist Wanted for Sexual Abuse

As Reported by RIA Novosti, via Moscow News

Psychiatrist Dr. Jean Andres Hoareau has been released from custody in Moscow, his lawyer told RIA Novosti. He was earlier arrested by Interpol on sexual abuse charges, but was set free by the Prosecutor’s Office.

“The Prosecutor General’s Office has refused to extradite Hoareau to France,” defense lawyer Igor Trunov said.

He said the decision had been taken because Hoareau was never officially declared missing, and because under Russian law, the statute of limitation had expired.

In May 2005, a French court sentenced Dr. Jean Andres Hoareau, a specialist in forensic psychiatry and sexual disorders and deputy chairman of the Association of European Psychiatrists, to 15 years in jail for raping a client while she was under hypnosis. The verdict was passed in Hoareau’s absence.

“My client has been detained by the international department of Interpol, which acted on the decision of the French court,” Igor Trunov said, adding that Hoareau was being kept in a detention center for foreigners.

Trunov said the detention of his client in Moscow was “politically motivated.”

He said Hoareau, also the founder of the European Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Moscow, had been living in the Russian capital for 15 years. He also said his client was married with three children.

“We are going to appeal the detention decision, most likely with the Moscow City Court,” Trunov said.

Moscow court again remands French psychiatrist in custody

As seen on Novosti

A court in Moscow ruled Wednesday to remand a French psychiatrist, facing gross misconduct and rape charges, in custody, a RIA Novosti correspondent said.

The court rejected for the second time an appeal by Dr. Jean Hoareau's lawyer to put the defendant under house arrest.

Hoareau, 56, was arrested in Moscow on April 7 at the request of the French police after he was found guilty in his homeland last May of for raping a client while she was under hypnosis, and sentenced to 15 years in jail. The verdict was passed in absentia.

"We will appeal against this decision of the Tverskoy Court with the Moscow City Court," defense lawyer Igor Trunov said.

In the appeal to the Tverskoy court, Trunov said Hoareau, deputy chairman of the Association of European Psychiatrists and head of the European Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, was a well-known researcher and an exemplary family man. Hoareau is married with three children.

Hoareau is currently being held in a detention facility for foreigners, but is seeking political asylum in Russia, where he has been living for 14 years.

The lawyer said Hoareau's extradition would soon be decided, and added that the French court verdict was falsified.

Russian daily Kommersant reported earlier that the defense team was suggesting that Hoareau was being sought by the French authorities because they suspected him of spying.

Trunov described the arrest as "a purely political decision."

"The verdict [in France] was passed in absentia," Trunov said. "The court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for allegedly raping a patient while she was under hypnosis."

In her comments on the court's earlier decision to remand Hoareau in custody, his wife, Marina, said she disagreed with the court ruling.

"He has never hidden from anyone. He is registered with the French Embassy in Russia," she said. "As for his patients' testimony, psychiatrists tend to have weird patients."