The medical director of the Sacramento County jail system was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of writing unauthorized OxyContin prescriptions, possibly for his own use, authorities said.
Dr. Peter Dietrich has been in charge of the Sacramento sheriff's medical operation at the downtown jail and the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center since July 2007. He had previously been medical director of university health services at UC Berkeley for 14 years.
State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement agents arrested Dietrich at 10 a.m. Wednesday at sheriff's headquarters in downtown Sacramento. He posted $5,000 bail and was released a few hours later.
BNE Special Agent Michelle Gregory said the investigation into Dietrich began in July when his name "popped up" in the state and federal tracking system that monitors prescriptions for widely abused painkillers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, and other controlled substances.
"It appeared he was writing high amounts of prescriptions at high dosages for OxyContin," Gregory said. "There is no indication of trafficking. Right now, they believe he may have been using it."
A woman who answered the door at Dietrich's residence declined comment.
OxyContin is a highly addictive painkiller that's gained a huge black market following since it was developed in 1996, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
State drug agents booked Dietrich, 51, on 21 counts – seven for writing unauthorized prescriptions, seven for fraudulently obtaining controlled substances and seven for illegal possession of them.
Gregory said agents searched Dietrich's residence and that the investigation is continuing.
Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness said BNE officials informed his department "several weeks ago" that Dietrich was under suspicion. He said the Sheriff's Department took no action other than to ensure that he did not have any contact with jail inmates.
As medical director, Dietrich worked in an office at a location away from the jail and would not regularly have such contact anyway, the sheriff said.
His primary duties were overseeing all medical staff and decisions at the jail, and his annual salary is $198,966.
"We have cooperated with them (BNE)," he said. "We did not want to do anything to interfere."
BNE officials informed the Sheriff's Department on Wednesday that they were prepared to arrest Dietrich, and sheriff's officials asked him to come down to headquarters for a meeting.
When he arrived, he was arrested inside the office of Capt. Jamie Lewis, down the hall from the sheriff's office.
McGinness said Dietrich was always professional and helpful. When the sheriff contracted an ear infection two summers ago, Dietrich asked after him several times, McGinness said.
The sheriff said that Dietrich also cared about maintaining the health of jail inmates.
"He's an extremely bright guy and always a pleasant guy," McGinness said.
"It's a huge loss. It's a sad day."
At Berkeley, Dietrich oversaw university health services before he left the campus in May 2007 to take the job in Sacramento.
"He was very highly regarded by his professional colleagues here," campus spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said.
Gregory, the state drug agent and spokeswoman for the BNE, said investigators do not know how many illegitimate prescriptions Dietrich may have written or the amounts of drugs involved. She said some of the prescriptions were legitimate and that agents have to sort them out.
She said both the BNE and the DEA monitor the tracking system "so people don't doctor shop and abuse prescriptions" and "so they can make sure doctors are not writing too many of them."
"When you start seeing the same name pop up multiple times for the same thing over … time, investigators are going to look at it and say something's not right," Gregory said.
Bee researcher Sheila A. Kern contributed to this report. Call Sam Stanton, (916) 321-1091.
