A Newport Beach doctor acquitted of distributing painkillers and Xanax was sentenced Friday to six months in federal prison for making a false statement in a Drug Enforcement Administration registration application.
U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb also placed Dr. Jeffrey Olsen on three years of supervised release. Olsen, 65, has until March 20 to report to prison.
Olsen was convicted April 10 on the single felony charge as jurors acquitted him of four felony counts related to the drug distribution charges. Jurors deadlocked on 30 other counts and prosecutors moved to dismiss them.
Prosecutors argued for two years of prison, which was above the sentencing guidelines for Olsen. Holcomb said such a punishment was “not at all appropriate here.”
But, Holcomb added, the defendant merited some time behind bars.
“Dr. Olsen is a good man,” Holcomb said. “But there was a time he lost his way pretty badly. … He was convicted of a felony and there are consequences.”
Although Olsen was acquitted of the drug distribution charges and prosecutors dropped the other counts, Holcomb considered evidence from the trial that Olsen texted some of his customers that they had to pay in cash and he was increasing the cost due to the risk to his livelihood. Holcomb noted that the doctor also threatened to stop prescriptions if his clients couldn’t pay.
“It’s relevant conduct and deeply, deeply disturbing,” Holcomb said. “But Dr. Olsen is a good man. I’m convinced of that.”
When Olsen was indicted in 2017, he was accused of writing the illegal prescriptions from 2013 through 2016. His attorney, Elena Rose Sadowsky, said her client was a drug addict at the time and has since recovered and has helped many other addicts.
“In the last 10 years, he has helped so many people,” Sadowsky said. “This is someone really trying to make amends.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Caitlin Jean Campbell said the defendant merited a longer prison sentence because he had been sending pills to addicts in other states and has not shown an appropriate level of “accountability” in the case. Campbell accused Olsen of “playing the victim” in his letter to Holcomb before sentencing.
Sadowsky, however, argued that Olsen has accepted responsibility for his misdeeds.
Olsen told Holcomb, “I’m grateful for this whole experience and for my family. … I have no resentments toward anyone. I don’t resent the prosecution. I know they have a job to do.”
The indictment put Olsen on the path to recovery, Sadowsky argued.
Holcomb waived a fine for Olsen because of his dire financial situation. The doctor, who still faces disciplinary action from the state and could lose his medical license, recently lost his job at a medical clinic due to cutbacks, Sadowsky said.
Olsen, who was earning $2,500 a month at his job, has applied for Social Security and is expecting to receive $2,000 a month, his attorney said. He has about $721 in his bank account and has “substantial debts,” she added.
Holcomb noted a large group of supporters for the doctor at Friday’s sentencing hearing, as well as the numerous letters written on his behalf.
Retired U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in 2020 dismissed the indictment against Olsen, ruling his constitutional rights to a jury trial were denied due to an order barring trials in the federal courthouse during the COVID-19 pandemic. That was later overturned on appeal.