July 23, 2009
Contact: Mike Turner
Number: 303-705-7446
Riverton, Wyoming Dentist Pleads Guilty to Writing
Fraudulent Prescriptions
JUL 23  -- 
Cheyenne, Wyoming  - A dentist who operates a clinic in Riverton, Wyoming, pleaded guilty 
to federal charges related to writing fraudulent prescriptions for and abusing the powerful and 
addictive painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone, for making false statements to federal drug 
investigators, and for making a false statement to a licensed federal firearms dealer. On July 20, 
2009, Daniel Eugene Hauck, 33, of Riverton, Wyoming, entered guilty pleas before United States
 District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson to three counts of an indictment charging him with conspiracy 
to distribute and dispense oxycodone and hydrocodone to persons he did not examine, without a 
legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice; making false 
statements and false representations to investigators during an inspection of the United States Drug 
Enforcement Administration; and making a false statement to a firearms dealer.
Hauck pleaded guilty under a plea agreement with the United States including a 
recommendation that he be sentenced to a term of 33 to 36 months imprisonment to be followed by 
a 5 year term of supervised release and the court's recommendation to the United States Bureau of 
Prisons that while in prison Hauck participate in the 500 Hour Residential Drug Abuse TreatmentProgram. Sentencing has been set for September 28, 2009. 
In the agreement and during his change of plea hearing, Hauck stipulated to a list of facts in 
support of his guilty plea and the sentencing recommendation. In doing so, he admitted using his 
employees, other persons and his codefendant, Brent Glenn Bills, to obtain hydrocodone and 
oxycodone for his own personal use. Hauck would write - or call into a pharmacy - a bogus 
prescription for oxycodone or hydrocodone pills in the employee's or the person's name. After the 
employee or persons filled the prescription, they would give the pills to Hauck. In most cases, Hauck 
used all the pills but he would also split the pills with certain individuals. After Hauck surrendered 
his DEA registration, Bills called in bogus prescriptions for hydrocodone pills in the names of an 
employee and patient of Hauck. The employee and patient gave the pills to Hauck for his own use.
In addition, Hauck used a significant number of oxycodone and hydrocodone pills he received from 
pharmacies for "office use" - a practice in which practitioners are allowed to keep controlled
 substances in their offices for distribution directly to a patient. Hauck further admitted that during 
an inspection of his dental office by DEA investigators, he falsely stated that he lawfully dispensed 
"office use" oxycodone and hydrocodone pills to his patients when he knew, in fact, he used the pills 
himself. Finally, Hauck admitted he falsely stated on an ATF Form 4473 - in connection with 
purchasing a firearm - that he was not an unlawful user of a controlled substance when, in fact, he 
unlawfully used hydrocodone and oxcycodone on a regular basis.
Jeffrey D. Sweetin, Special Agent in Charge of the Rocky Mountain Division of the Drug 
Enforcement Administration, said: "Daniel Hauck was a professional in a position of trust in the 
community, who abused his authority as a dentist to illegally obtain powerful narcotics for his 
personal use. He is now paying a high price for his illegal drug activity."
####