Texas doctor who moved to Fairfield last year arrested as part of DEA investigation

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DENTON, Texas (AP) -Two doctors who were once married have been arrested for allegedly writing prescriptions for controlled substances without having the proper authorization to do so.

Dr. Odette Campbell, 54, and Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, 64

, were arrested Thursday as part of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation, according to Denton police Detective Rachel Fleming.

Campbell is charged with fraudulent use of a controlled substance registration number while Lewis faces two counts of the same charge and is under a $40,000 bail. Campbell was released from the Denton city jail Friday afternoon on $20,000 bail. She did not immediately respond to a phone message left at her home Saturday seeking comment.

Denton Sheriff's Office spokesman Tom Reedy said Lewis was in the Denton County Jail Saturday.

Fleming said Campbell's federal registration number was suspended Tuesday morning when DEA agents served her with a license suspension during an ongoing investigation, The Denton Record-Chronicle reported.

Authorities say that Campbell, a radiation oncologist, arranged for Lewis, an ophthalmologist who is her ex-husband, to write pain prescriptions for her patients. But he no longer had valid registration with the DEA, according to arrest affidavits, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Doctors are required to have both a federal and state registration number to write prescriptions for controlled substances, including hydrocodone, Fleming said.

Fleming said investigators found prescriptions written by Lewis for pain medication for her patients, although he was unauthorized to do so, Fleming said.

Lewis issued a statement saying he was unaware his DEA license had expired.

"I had not looked at it in a year. In my mind, I thought it expired at the end of August," he said.

Lewis, who practiced medicine in the Denton area for 28 years, said he moved to Fairfield, Iowa, last year

and had been visiting family in Denton for the last few months. When Campbell asked him to help her out in her medical office after receiving a DEA license suspension, he complied and treated about 10 patients, some of whom he prescribed diazepam or hydrocodone, he said.

Lewis said he immediately stopped treating patients after several pharmacists informed him that his DEA license had expired.

It's not the first time the pair has been in trouble.

They have received disciplinary action in the past from the Texas Medical Board, said Jane McFarland, chief of staff for the board.

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Information from:

The Denton Record-Chronicle, including head shot photos of the two doctors

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.