MD Pleads Not Guilty in Drug Case : Justice: Prominent doctor who is also Palomar College board president is accused of prescribing potent drugs without a legitimate medical purpose.

A prominent Poway physician, who is also president of the Palomar College Board of Trustees, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he dispensed large doses of drugs illegally.

Dr. Robert Lee Dougherty Jr., 61, pleaded innocent to seven felony courts of writing prescriptions without a legitimate medical purpose.

San Diego Municipal Judge Harvey Hiber scheduled a June 18 preliminary hearing for Dougherty, who is free on $50,000 bail and maintains a family medicine practice in Poway.

A special agent with the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement said after the hearing that Dougherty wrote prescriptions for “incredible doses” of both depressants and stimulants for his roommate, and often filled the prescriptions himself.

A state investigation revealed that Dougherty’s roommate, a former San Diego police officer who now goes by the name of Lance Scott, was the recipient of the drugs, which often included such powerful substances as Demerol, Percocent and Preludin.

Authorities said Dougherty wrote prescriptions for more than 15,000 doses of various drugs for Scott over a two-year period.

Scott, 43, who was arrested along with Dougherty on April 24, was a police officer for four years under the name of Orville Lance Stout. He received disability retirement in 1978. Although Scott was arrested, charges were never filed because he had a legal prescription for the drugs from Dougherty.

Rhea D. Babcock, a special agent with the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, said Dougherty also hypnotized “young male patients” who saw him for relatively minor ailments, and characterized his behavior as akin to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

The purpose behind the hypnosis was unclear, Babcock said.

When investigators raided Dougherty’s residence in the 15200 block of Hilltop Circle in Poway, they found Scott in bed with a loaded shotgun next to him, Babcock said. Three more guns within reach and pills were scattered over the floor, she added.

According to court documents and statements from the investigator, Dougherty would often go into a pharmacy, write prescriptions in the store and pay for them with cash.

Assistant Dist. Atty. David Lattuca refused comment on the specifics of the case Thursday and an attorney appearing for Dougherty at the arraignment avoided questions by leaving the courthouse by a rear exit. Dougherty’s regular attorney, Thomas Warwick, did not calls.

Babcock provided reporters with many details about the investigation.

According to records recovered at Dougherty’s office, he wrote large numbers of prescriptions for so-called Schedule II drugs--the most powerful available legally--for nearly 20 years, Babcock said.

Five separate investigations had targeted Dougherty since 1983, when state officials began circulating a “high-prescriber list” of physicians’ names, Babcock said.

But only recently did investigators obtain enough information to file charges, Babcock said.

Babcock said that after Dougherty was released on bail from the County Jail during the early morning hours of April 25--the day after he was arrested--he allegedly started writing prescriptions again that afternoon.

Although investigators seized the special triplicate forms used to write prescriptions for Schedule II drugs, Dougherty is still a licensed physician able to practice medicine and write prescriptions for less-potent medications.

Babcock said Dougherty, whose office is at 15644 Pomerado Road, also hypnotized “mainly young male patients” even if their complaints were only for ear aches, colds or other minor problems.

Palomar College officials said they were stunned by Dougherty’s arrest because he has been considered a valued member of the district’s board of trustees.

“He has a very keen and sincere interest in the affairs of Palomar College,” said fellow board member Harvey Williamson.

Trustee Harold Scofield added, “He’s very ethical as a board member, takes his job very seriously and has been very balanced in trying to make the right decisions about the college.”

Scofield said he would often car-pool with Dougherty to board meetings. “I think his life is consumed with public service. He talks about the boards he’s served on over the years. He doesn’t talk about his medical practice,” Scofield said.

College President George Boggs said he was shocked by Dougherty’s arrest “because it’s so out of character with his behavior with the district. He’s always been very professional, very ethical.”

If there was criticism of Dougherty, Boggs said, it was that “he flies into compromises--sometimes too quickly, I think.”

Boggs said Dougherty’s arrest has caused the college some embarrassment. “In the strictest sense, we realize he’s not an employee of the college,” Boggs said. “If he was, we’d be taking different kinds of actions. But he’s an elected official.

“But every time we open a newspaper and see Palomar College mentioned (in connection with this case), it’s an unfortunate circumstance.”