Dr. Harold C. Spear III of 3897 Hanapepe Road, who was arrested Friday at his Hanapepe Clinic, appeared before Magistrate Leslie Kobayashi today and is being held at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu pending a bail hearing.

"...By prescribing large amounts of those highly addictive drugs to others for compensation, Spear stopped becoming a medical doctor and simply became a common dope dealer," U.S. Attorney for Hawai'i Ed Kubo said.

If convicted of knowingly and intentionally distributing or dispensing a schedule II dangerous drug, Spear could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

An Alabama investigation into illegal dispensing of prescriptions by William & Mary Pharmacy of Gardendale, Ala., identified Spear as a suspect in March 2006. W&MP ran an Internet website and hired physcians to write prescriptions for controlled substances which W&MP filled and delivered.

Kubo said the Hawai'i office opened its own investigation in June 2006 and undercover agents in California placed telephone orders of 120 Spralding Hydro-Guaifenesin and also Viagra with Spear. They were charged $175 for an "office visit" and the prescription was placed through Suntree Pharmacy in Melbourne, Fla.

The "dial-a-doc" business operated by Spear conducted telephone consultations and prescribed controlled substances to people without the benefit of face-to-face medical examination, Kubo said.

Authorities also determined Spear allowed assistants to complete presigned blank prescriptions in order to refill orders for customers. These assistants were left unspervised for weeks at a time at the clinic and were high school graduates with no medical training or education, Kubo said.