Doctor Fined for Dispensing Drugs
A San Diego doctor who distributed drugs without a legitimate medical purpose has been fined $20,000 and placed on five years’ probation.
Dr. Julius Gorton, 58, who had an office on 40th Street, was given a suspended three-year sentence Monday but no actual jail time was imposed and his medical license was not suspended.
U.S. District Court Judge Rudi Brewster ordered Gorton not to prescribe controlled substances in the future under conditions of probation.
Gorton pleaded guilty Dec. 12 to one count of illegally distributing a controlled drug to an undercover agent who posed as a patient.
He was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 28, 1988, on 60 counts of distributing drugs without a legitimate medical purpose. Fifty-nine charges were dismissed when he pleaded guilty to one count.
In a press conference announcing the indictment, then-U.S. Atty. Peter Nunez said the drugs illegally distributed included Valium, Tylenol with codeine, sleeping pills, diet pills and cough syrup.
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