Feds: Man bombed Ark. med board chair in revenge

[February 04, 2010]  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Police interviewed Dr. Randeep Mann the day a homemade bomb exploded in the driveway of an Arkansas home, leaving the chairman of the state medical board severely burned and without an eye.

After all, officials said, Mann was one of multiple doctors disciplined by the Arkansas State Medical Board who were looked at following the February 2009 bombing that injured Dr. Trent Pierce.

The board headed by Pierce had twice stripped Mann of his right to prescribe narcotics -- temporarily in 2003, then permanently in 2006 -- after 10 of his patients fatally overdosed. Federal judges had thrown out two lawsuits filed by Mann, including one in which the naturalized U.S. citizen alleged discrimination by the medical board because he was a Hindu from India.

Three months later, the bomb went off in Pierce's driveway. Mann was indicted Wednesday on charges of using a weapon of mass destruction against a person or property, using an explosive to destroy Pierce's sport utility vehicle and possession of the anesthetic chloroform, which prosecutors said was found in Mann's jail cell. He was being held on federal weapons charges.

Court documents say Mann, a federally licensed gun dealer, showed state police a registered grenade launcher during their interview. So when city workers stumbled across a canister containing 98 military grenades in a wooded area near Mann's home the next month, authorities returned to the quiet luxury enclave on a cliff overlooking Lake Dardanelle.

Authorities publicly had insisted that the weapons case against Mann was unrelated to the bombing investigation. But an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives called Mann a "person of interest" in the bombing and another referred to him as the "prime suspect" during an August court hearing.

"The theory of the United States' case is that the motivation was retaliatory against Dr. Pierce and his service on the board, and for the board's actions in connection with Dr. Mann's professional licensing matters," U.S. Attorney Jane Duke said Wednesday in announcing the new charges.

A conviction on the charge of using a weapon of mass destruction could land Mann in prison for life.

Mann's attorney, Blake Hendrix, declined to comment Wednesday and calls to Pierce's home and office rang unanswered. Prosecutors said Pierce would not comment on the new charges.

"Dr. Pierce was, and remains, a dedicated professional committed to the health and healing of others," Duke said. "We believe that very dedication -- exemplified through his service on the Arkansas State Medical Board -- was what caused him to be targeted by Dr. Mann in this heinous act."

Family and friends of Pierce said the bomb was planted in a tire placed behind Pierce's vehicle in his driveway, and that it detonated when he reached down to move the tire. ATF agents have said the bomb was homemade, not manufactured military explosives or dynamite.

Mann already faced charges of obstruction of justice and possessing unregistered weapons after more than $1 million worth of weapons were found during a search of his home and surrounding area that followed the grenades discovery by the city workers.

Federal agents have said more than 100 guns ranging from M-16s to a tripod-mounted .50-caliber sniper weapon were found lying on the floor, in closets and in safes during the search. A majority of the firearms were legally registered to Mann.

He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and is scheduled to go to trial March 15. His wife, Sangeeta Mann, is charged with obstructing the investigation, concealing signed, blank checks and making false statements to a grand jury. If convicted of obstruction, she could face up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors also claimed in earlier court hearings that Mann's father was an international arms dealer, but defense attorneys dismissed the allegation as unfounded and the Indian national has not faced criminal charges.

The state medical board's 2006 investigation found that Mann prescribed excessive amounts -- 15 to 26 bottles per month -- of the pain reliever butorphanol for one patient. Along with the 10 patients who died, several survived overdoses, including one who suffered brain injury.

During the 2006 board hearing, Mann testified that in some cases, he didn't know patients had overdosed -- and continued to prescribe narcotic pain relievers -- because he hadn't received records from a hospital's emergency room that would have reflected the overdoses.

In other cases, he said, patients overdosed on medications prescribed by other doctors, or cases were mischaracterized by the hospital as overdoses.

One patient identified in records as Shelly G. overdosed and died on Oct. 4, 2005, at Conway Regional Medical Center. Mann's records show that the woman, who was in her 20s, had a history of drug abuse and suicide attempts, according to a report by a consultant hired by the medical board. Mann prescribed the woman 120 Lorcent and 60 Xanax in the month before her death.

In 2007, Mann again appeared before the medical board, asking it to reinstate his U.S. Drug Enforcement permit to prescribe narcotics. His request was denied, and Pierce told him he shouldn't try again for "any foreseeable time," according to news accounts at the time.

[Associated Press; By JILL ZEMAN BLEED]

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