Former St. Louis Area Pediatrician Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Exchanging Prescriptions for Sex Acts

Former St. Louis Area Pediatrician Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Exchanging Prescriptions for Sex Acts

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a former St. Louis County, Missouri pediatrician to 20 years in prison for prescribing pain pills and other controlled substances in exchange for sex acts, nude photos or cash. From at least 2014 through May of 2023, Craig A. Spiegel, now 70, exploited his position to obtain cash, sexual acts or sexual photographs from at least 19 patients, many of whom he began treating as children. Spiegel illegally distributed an "astronomical amount of drugs," Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Sestric said in court. Rather than referring patients with a substance use disorder to treatment, Spiegel exploited their disease for his own gratification and prescribed dangerous combinations of addictive drugs to those vulnerable victims. Spiegel pressured and harassed reluctant patients via text messages and became sexually violent with at least one victim, Sestric said. Spiegel met one of his victims when she was only about seven or eight years old and initiated sexual contact years later by preying on her vulnerability when she was going through a divorce, a sentencing memo filed by Sestric said.

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