Rawlins Doctor Sentenced to Prison for Unlawful Distribution of Prescription Pain Pills

A Wyoming doctor was sentenced in Federal Court in Wyoming this week for unlawful distribution of prescription pain pills. Chief Federal District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl sentenced 66-year-old David Ray Cesko of Rawlins to five years in prison to be followed by six years of supervised release. Skavdahl also ordered Cesko to pay $2,400 in restitution and special assessment fees.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Cesko was charged by a Wyoming federal grand jury in March of 2019 in a 30 count indictment following a lengthy, collaborative investigation by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The charges alleged that Cesko had, without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the course of professional practice, unlawfully prescribed pain killers and other controlled substances to multiple patients.

At a hearing in February, pursuant to a plea agreement, Cesko pleaded guilty to 20 of the original charges, including charges that he unlawfully prescribed codeine cough syrup and opiates to minor, female patients, and, on several occasions, that he unlawfully prescribed opiates to a pregnant minor. As part of the plea agreement Cesko also agreed to forever relinquish his medical license and prescription authority. Assistant United States Attorney Stuart S. Healy III represented the government.