Charlotte eye doctor pleads guilty in drug scam

A Charlotte optometrist will spend at least 15 months in prison after he pleaded guilty Thursday morning to a trafficking scam in which he and a business partner – his younger brother – prescribed narcotics for their patients, then stole some of the pills to feed their addictions.

Under an agreement with prosecutors, Dr. Sam Hobbs was convicted of attempted trafficking of opiates. Superior Court Judge Carla Archie sentenced him to 15-27 months. The judge will recommend that Hobbs be sent to the state prison system’s Dan River Work Farm in Yanceyville where he can receive treatment for his drug habit.

The optometrist told Archie that he has been straight for a year. However, attorney George Laughrun told the courtroom that his client already has lost his marriage, his medical license and his practice.

Dr. Ben Hobbs, the defendant’s brother, faces his own hearing later this week.

The brothers were arrested Sept. 23, 2014, and charged with trafficking, and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and larceny.

Less than a week later, according to jail records, Ben Hobbs was arrested again – this time on charges that included trafficking in heroin and illegally obtaining controlled substances. His attorney, Richard Kronk of Charlotte, declined comment Monday, though he added, “This is a difficult situation all around.”

According to court documents, the brothers’ scheme, which went on for an indeterminate period of time, was undone by their own patients.

The Hobbses, who owned and operated Clear View Eye Care clinics in Matthews and Steele Creek, prescribed larges doses of the narcotic hydrocodone for their patients, according to search warrants filed in the case last year. The doctors then asked their patients to bring their medication with them on their next visit to the clinics. While the patients were undergoing new procedures in the office, the brothers would steal the narcotics and replace the pills with vitamins.

In one incident last year, Samuel Hobbs prescribed 25 pills of Norco, a mixture of hydrocodone and the pain-relief drug acetaminophen. When she came back, Hobbs “took (the) victim’s medication and substituted it with vitamin tablets while he performed an eye procedure on the victim,” the arrest warrant states.

Several other patients told investigators a similar story.

Before his hearing began Thursday, Sam Hobbs sat alone in the back row of the courtroom, wearing a striped blue shirt and tie and carrying his coat in his arms. Laughrun told Archie that his client has cooperated with the investigation throughout and has already turned in his optometrist license. Archie forbade Hobbs from reapplying for the license for at least three years after his release.

The Hobbs brothers appear to be close. According to biographies on the website of their practice, they both graduated from East Carolina University, then obtained doctorates of optometry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

After Archie delivered her sentence, deputies handcuffed Sam Hobbs and led him from the courtroom. It appears his younger brother, who’s scheduled to appear before Archie on Wednesday morning, could soon follow.

This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Charlotte eye doctor pleads guilty in drug scam."