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A doctor licensed in five states, including New York, is accused of selling prescription drugs over the Internet. He has been arrested in a sting involving the Colonie police.

Dr. David Stephenson, 44, of Rome, N.Y. allegedly set up two Web sites where he sold a plethora of prescription drugs, except he offered them without a prescription.

Painkillers, Ritalin, anti-depressants and the date rape drug – GHB – were all available through the convenience of your own computer, according to police.

"This is a stack of approximately 50 e-mail addresses per page, approximately 300 pages, of e-mail addresses that the good doctor corresponded with,” Colonie Police Chief Steven Heider said at a news conference Friday.

Authorities noticed three months ago Stephenson was getting more drugs than what's considered normal from pharmaceuticals. Police realized Stephenson had set up shop online, selling prescription drugs to customers without a prescription.

"He didn't have a practice. He wasn't seeing patients. You couldn't even call these patients. You have to call them drug customers," explained Michael Moffett of the state Department of Health.

Customers included undercover police from Colonie, who made several successful purchases and on Thursday moved in. Police raided Stephenson's home, seizing computers and paper records. They also found packages marked for as far away as Tokyo.

“The information superhighway opens the merchandising up on sites like eBay and Amazon.com. In this case it was Meds2go or DocStat were the two Web sites. Anybody who went on those Web sites had access to him,” Heider said.

Stephenson was arraigned Friday on four charges of criminal sale of a controlled substance.


Customers who purchased drugs from him could also face charges.

Stephenson's sites have been shut down.

He is currently in the Albany County Jail without bail.

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