Former softball team doctor pleads guilty

Kayla Webley
2005-01-20
The Daily

Former UW softball team doctor William Scheyer pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court yesterday to issuing fraudulent prescriptions in order to obtain controlled substances including narcotics.

Scheyer admitted to writing fake prescriptions -- using the names of student athletes, support staff and others, without their consent -- to obtain large amounts of prescription narcotics when he served as the softball team's doctor from August 2001 to May 2003, according to The Seattle Times. Scheyer issued the illegally-obtained prescriptions to student athletes on bus rides and before softball games.

Scheyer also admitted to picking up the drugs, which included Vicodin and Oxycodone, and paying for them out of his own pocket. Scheyer also acknowledged that he handed out the drugs to student athletes in unmarked bags with little or no dosage instructions and failed to keep any record of who received the medications.

Scheyer made an agreement with prosecutors to gain a reduced sentence. He now faces six months in prison and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing date has not yet been set.