Agents Seize Physician’s Property in Drug Inquiry : Law enforcement: Files, medication, vials and syringes are taken at Dr. Harvey Leonard Dannis’ offices in Anaheim and the homes of patients in Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

State and federal agents raided homes and businesses in three counties this week as part of an investigation into alleged overprescribing of drugs by an Anaheim doctor whose license was suspended earlier this year on other violations, authorities said Friday.

The raids, from July 27 to Wednesday, took place at Dr. Harvey Leonard Dannis’ offices in Anaheim and the homes of some of his patients in Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Patient files were seized, along with medication, vials, syringes and other items named in search warrants signed July 25 by North Orange County Municipal Judge Daniel T. Brice.

In affidavits filed Friday in North Municipal Court in Fullerton, the orthopedic surgeon was accused of overprescribing anabolic steroids, Valium and other controlled substances to patients that included convicted criminals and known drug addicts.

One patient became addicted to drugs prescribed by Dannis, while two others suffered overdoses, the affidavits alleged.

Agents with the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement--a division of the California Department of Justice, which is heading a 20-month investigation into the doctor’s alleged activities--plan to present evidence seized in the raids to the Orange County district attorney’s office for prosecution.

Dannis, who denied the accusations through his attorney, has not been charged and is free to continue his practice.

State agents said in affidavits that they are also collecting evidence against 13 of Dannis’ patients on suspicion of obtaining narcotics and other controlled drugs by fraud, deceit and misrepresentation.

Most of the patients, agents said, were in the habit of “shopping” pharmacies so they would not arouse suspicion by buying all their drugs from one store.

During their investigation, agents obtained statements from pharmacists in Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties, many of whom quit filling Dannis’ prescriptions because they thought that he was overprescribing, the affidavits said.

The alleged violations by both Dannis and his patients fall under the state Health and Safety Code. The maximum penalty for each felony violation is a $20,000 fine or one year in jail.

According to Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement spokeswoman Kati Corsaut, 24 California physicians and dentists were arrested on suspicion of overprescribing drugs during 1988, the most recent period for which statistics are available.

“We view the abuse of prescription drugs as a very major problem,” Corsaut said.

Dannis, 47, referred comment to his attorney, who denied all the charges.

“Dr. Dannis is totally perplexed by (allegations of overprescribing) and wonders what could they be talking about,” Santa Ana attorney Michael F. Dow said. “When he does prescribe, he is very careful.”

Dow added that Dannis has complained that local pharmacies are constantly wanting him to give them more refill business.

The attorney said Dannis was upset because agents “did a lot of damage” when they raided his then-closed offices July 27.

Dow said Dannis believes that the investigation was prompted in part by his enemies within the insurance industry, who do not like him because he has testified on behalf of plaintiffs in cases against insurers.

“If the awards are substantial, that becomes an irritation to the insurance industry,” Dow said. “He became something of a target.”

A 13-year practitioner in California, Dannis has long been under scrutiny by local law enforcement, authorities said. A 30-page affidavit filed by a Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement agent, Spring Robbins, outlined how Dannis first drew attention in 1985 when a former patient filed a complaint with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that Dannis administered excessive amounts of drugs and narcotics to him, resulting in a drug addiction.

At about the same time, Dannis was charged with assaulting an Orange County marshal who had tried to serve a summons at Dannis’ office, Robbins said.

Several months later, Dannis was again charged with assault, this time for punching a process server and her husband in their faces when they too tried to serve him with a summons, Robbins said in the affidavit. Both cases were dismissed.

In November, 1986, Dannis was indicted on federal fraud charges. Dannis billed the U.S. Department of Labor for medical treatments that he did not render to government agents who posed as Long Beach Naval Shipyard workers trying to obtain a doctor’s excuse for being off work.

While acquitted on felony charges, Dannis pleaded guilty in 1987 to one misdemeanor count of theft of government property and three misdemeanor counts of filing false statements to the government, court records showed. He was fined $32,000 and placed on probation for four years. In addition, the California Medical Board on Jan. 22 suspended his license for 90 days and placed Dannis on probation for 10 years, according to court records.

The current investigation began in January of last year, when Robbins met with investigators from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and state medical board to review complaints that had been filed against Dannis with the medical panel, accusing him of writing multiple prescriptions for the same medication on the same date to addicts.

The investigators went to area pharmacists to document cases. Robbins said some “very suspicious” patterns emerged. Some patients were traveling from as far away as Victorville, Hesperia and Cardiff-by-the-Sea in San Diego County to get prescriptions from Dannis, Robbins said in her affidavit.

Among the specific cases documented by investigators and outlined in Robbins’ affidavit:

* A Garden Grove woman tried to kill herself in December by leaving the engine of her car running in a closed garage after becoming addicted to a hypnotic drug that Dannis allegedly prescribed for an injury suffered in an industrial accident. A second doctor who treated her determined that she needed nothing more than a daily regimen of exercise.

* A Garden Grove man got on a bus and collapsed of a drug overdose last year while under the influence of barbiturates. Garden Grove police allegedly found in his pocket a prescription from Dannis for 100 pills of codeine. The man had a lengthy history of arrests for such charges as drug possession, petty theft and burglary.

* A Cardiff-by-the-Sea man obtained about 3,500 dosages of Vicodin, a narcotic pain reliever, over 11 months beginning in September, 1988. The patient, who has a criminal history of possessing controlled substances, consumed the drug at the rate of about 25 doses a day and allegedly was getting his prescription refilled by Dannis every three to four days.