Wyoming Doctor Pleads Guilty, Faces Decades in Pain Pill Case

A Rawlins, Wyoming, doctor pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to multiple charges that, as a physician, he unlawfully distributed controlled substances, primarily opiates and benzodiazepines, to his patients.

Dr. David Ray Cesko, 66, was indicted on 30 charges in March 2019 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.

As part of 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.

He also agreed to forever relinquish his medical license and prescription authority.

Cesko is scheduled to be sentenced on May 13, and faces the possibility of decades in prison.

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