Drug Charge Is Denied by Former Doctor

A former doctor pleaded not guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to charges that he illegally distributed drugs and used another physician’s registration to practice medicine out of a Santa Ana clinic.

If convicted, Thomas C. Cloud, 50, of Los Angeles could be sentenced to up to nine years in prison and fined up to $500,000, officials in the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The two-count indictment against Cloud was the product of a joint investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, officials said.

In 1985, Cloud and six other Southland doctors were ordered to halt the practice of medicine after a federal investigation--dubbed Operation Rx--that uncovered $35 million in illegally prescribed drugs.

The prosecutor in the current case, Assistant U.S. Atty. Alka Sagar, said Cloud distributed Tylenol with a controlled form of codeine “outside the usual course of medical practice and without a legitimate medical reason.”

And although Cloud was not licensed to practice medicine and was not registered with the DEA to distribute drugs, he used the registration number of a doctor who was, the prosecutor alleged.

Officials said Cloud worked out of the South Grand Medical Clinic in Santa Ana.

Sagar was not available for further comment on the case. U.S. attorney’s office spokeswoman Carole Levitsky said Cloud is in custody but she did not have details of his arrest.

Trial is scheduled Sept. 3 before U.S. District Judge Laughlin Waters in Los Angeles.