Psychiatrist in ’88 Drug Case Has Palm Springs Home Confiscated

In the first such action against a doctor in California, federal marshals on Tuesday seized the home of a Palm Springs psychiatrist who surrendered his license to practice medicine last year after he was charged with violating drug laws.

The seizure of Henry Spitzer’s home on Monterey Road near downtown Palm Springs followed an investigation by the Medical Board of California and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. A spokesman for the Medical Board said the home was subject to forfeiture under federal law because Spitzer allegedly used it to issue illegal prescriptions for narcotics.

Spitzer, 73, will be permitted to live in the tan stucco house pending a hearing in U.S. District Court. If a federal judge upholds the seizure, the home--valued at about $150,000--will be auctioned and the proceeds divided among the agencies that took part in the investigation.

A Palm Springs resident since the early 1960s, Spitzer was charged in 1988 with 16 felony counts of unlawfully prescribing controlled substances. A six-month investigation by undercover agents hired by the Medical Board concluded that Spitzer was prescribing Valium and the amphetamine desoxyn in cases where it was not medically warranted.

Under a plea bargain struck in March, 1989, the psychiatrist agreed to surrender his medical license and pay restitution to the board if the criminal charges were dismissed.

Initially, the plea agreement appeared to represent the end of the case. But in September, Medical Board investigators learned at a training seminar that Spitzer’s property might be subject to seizure and decided to pursue that prospect.

Under federal guidelines, a home, car or other piece of property can be seized if it was purchased with profits from an illegal drug transaction or if it facilitated that transaction.

“He was practicing in his home, issuing prescriptions from there, so this case met the test,” said Dan Goldsmith, the board’s senior special investigator in San Bernardino.

Spitzer could not be reached for comment. But police said it appears he had no idea his home was in jeopardy until 11 a.m. Tuesday, when a handful of agents crossed his cactus-studded front yard and knocked on the door. The news left him upset, police said.

“I think he figured this whole thing was over and done with,” said Lt. Lee Weigel of the Palm Springs Police Department, which joined in serving the seizure papers.