The St. Louis pediatrician who last week was accused by federal prosecutors of swapping prescription pills for sex has now been indicted by a grand jury and is facing a slew of additional charges.
Craig Spiegel, 67, now faces 17 counts of illegal distribution of controlled substances and six counts of making false statements related to health care matters.
As the RFT previously reported, federal authorities claim that since 2014 Spiegel has been writing bogus prescriptions to women in exchange for sexual favors and nude photographs. The authorities allege that Spiegel first met many of these women when they were children and he was their pediatrician.
Prosecutors claim that Spiegel was aware that many of these women had dangerous addiction issues, yet he continued to prescribe opioids, Xanax and amphetamines to them. One woman for whom Spiegel prescribed medications died of an overdose in April 2022.
The six charges of making false statements stem from the women Spiegel issued the bogus prescriptions to having the costs of those drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
April Bingham, 46, is also facing one charge of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances related to Spiegel's alleged scheme. The indictment says that Spiegel traded drugs for sexual favors with Bingham and Bingham also distributed controlled substances under Spiegel’s DEA registration. Spiegel knew that Bingham was selling some of the pills he prescribed her to others and he used the names of Bingham’s ex-husband, mother, and friends, to conceal from pharmacies how frequently he was writing prescriptions for Bingham.
Bingham also connected the doctor to others with whom he could trade drugs for sexual favors, the indictment says.
At a detention hearing on Monday, prosecutor Amy Sestric argued that Spiegel ought to remain in custody as his case works its way through the courts. She said that an acquaintance of Spiegel's came forward recently to say she had concerns about Spiegel being a potential flight risk. This acquaintance, also a doctor, said that Spiegel has previously talked about gaining Israeli citizenship and how difficult it is to be extradited back to the United States from Israel.
Spiegel's attorney, William Goldstein, said that the doctor would be willing to surrender his passport as part of an arrangement allowing him to await his day in court out of jail. He stressed that Spiegel has significant family ties to the St. Louis area and that he has surrendered his license to practice medicine.
A judge has yet to rule one way or the other on Spiegel's bond, and he remains in custody.
Sestric argued that the government has "overwhelming" evidence against Spiegel, including thousands of text messages.
At Spiegel's hearing, Sestric referenced one of those text exchanges, initiated by Spiegel when he knew the feds were about to bring charges.
In that exchange, Spiegel texted someone to ask: "Are you talking to the feds?"
They responded, "No."
To which Spiegel replied, "Good."
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