Ex-Doctor Accused of Soliciting Wife’s Murder Is Indicted

A former Brentwood plastic surgeon has been indicted for allegedly trying to hire two men--one of whom turned out to be an undercover Las Vegas police officer--to kill his wife.

Ian Steven Brown, 50, will be arraigned later this month on two counts of soliciting the murder of his now ex-wife, Judy Summers Brown, said Clark County Deputy Dist. Atty. Roger Cram in Las Vegas.

Brown was arrested Dec. 16, 1997, after he allegedly approached two men, Jorge Lopez and Kevin Skehan, in the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas offering money to kill his spouse. Skehan, a Las Vegas police officer, was working undercover.

Brown was unavailable to comment after being indicted Friday by a Clark County grand jury. He has been free since posting $20,000 bail after his arrest.

His attorney, Stanley Rosanski, said the entire incident grew out of a misunderstanding.

Brown, who was going through divorce proceedings, had been unable to sleep for several days when he encountered the two men while he was in Las Vegas for a medical convention, Rosanski said.

The combination of various medications he was taking and the alcohol he consumed caused him to make an “off-the-cuff remark,” Rosanski said.

“It was not a solicitation. The guy he was talking to took him seriously. It can’t be believed because he wasn’t serious.”

Authorities would not detail the alleged solicitation, saying only that Brown offered one of the two men $20,000.

Brown’s arrest in 1997 capped what had been a downward spiral. He closed his Beverly Hills practice after surrendering his medical license on Aug. 15, 1996. The state Medical Board had charged him with violations of the business and professional code after accusing him of performing cosmetic surgery and improperly billing the patients’ medical insurance, said spokeswoman Candis Cohen. Brown had also been charged with gross negligence, repeated acts of negligence and incompetence, Cohen said.

Rather than face adjudication, Brown surrendered his medical license, which he had held since July 1, 1975, and stopped seeing patients at his Roxbury Drive office.

Judy Summers Brown said her former husband suffered from psychiatric problems, but she believed he posed no danger to her.

“I was never afraid,” she said. “He went off to Las Vegas and probably had too much to drink. He has a psychiatric disability that makes his day-to-day living difficult for him.”

Brown said she remains fond of her former husband, the father of her two children, ages 11 and 14. “I just think he lost his direction and bearings. He completely lost it. He did a really idiotic, bizarre thing,” she said. “I was stunned to hear about it.”