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Judge wants assurances medication will continue

A federal judge said he will not sentence a man convicted of bank fraud to a prison term unless the U.S. Bureau of Prisons assures him the defendant will continue to receive needed medications.

U.S. District Judge Robert Payne delayed Charles Ellinger O’Brien’s sentencing until May 8 to give authorities time to determine whether they can comply with a court order to maintain the former SunTrust Bank loan officer’s current drug regimen.

O’Brien, 40, pleaded guilty to stealing $450,000 from SunTrust. According to testimony and court records, he has bipolar disorder and a history of alcohol abuse and was disabled by a brain injury suffered in a fall in May 2004.

His psychiatrists say O’Brien needs at least 10 daily medications, a regimen that took years to perfect and costs $1,200 a month. Federal prison authorities want to change six to eight of the drugs once O’Brien is in custody, his doctors told Payne.

Dr. Thomas Gaultieri, a psychiatrist called as a government witness, testified April 24 that he would suggest not changing the medications for bipolar disorder. If they are changed, he said, it should be done one drug at a time.

Payne asked a prison psychiatrist, Dr. Jean Zula, if the bureau was prepared to keep O’Brien on his medications.

“That would be a problem … no,” she said. She said at least one of the drugs, Ritalin, has the potential for abuse. She said he would receive adequate, appropriate care.
That did not satisfy Payne, who said a prison sentence is appropriate but “it is imperative that the medication be continued in its current form.”

“If they won’t do it, then I’m going to tell you the sentence will not include prison time,” said Payne, who left open the possibility of O’Brien serving weekends in jail.

A 2006 federal study found that 45 percent of federal prisoners, 56 percent of state prisoners, and 64 percent of local jail inmates have a mental-health problem. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates 25 percent to 87 percent of inmates have a head or brain injury.

Many inmates complain that they are stripped of their medications, or their drug regimen is changed, after they enter prison or transfer from one prison to another.

Corrections officials and prison medical-care providers say that often many medications are unnecessary, unavailable or can be replaced by generic alternatives. Some drugs also have the potential for abuse by inmates.

O’Brien fraudulently obtained a $450,000 loan from SunTrust in 2001, supposedly to raise money for the Hampden-Sydney Foundation that he had established. Instead of benefiting his alma mater, O’Brien paid for a golf club membership and bought 10 cars, including a Mercedes-Benz and a Porsche.

He faces a maximum term of 30 years in prison, although federal sentencing guidelines call for a term of 41 months to 51 months. Under the terms of his plea agreement, O’Brien also must repay the $450,000.

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