CHEYENNE --- A Riverton dentist was sentenced to prison this week for illegally dispensing painkillers.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson sentenced Dr. Daniel Hauck to 33 months in prison with a recommendation he participate in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons' residential drug abuse treatment program, a $1,300 fine and a five-year term of supervised probation.

Hauck pleaded guilty on July 20 to charges of conspiracy to distribute and dispense the powerful and addictive painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone without a legitimate medical purpose and to making false statements to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigators.

Hauck admitted using his employees, other people and a co-defendant, Dr. Brent Bills, to obtain the painkillers for his own use. Bills, of Lander, earlier received deferred prosecution for his involvement.

Both Hauck and his attorney, Gay Woodhouse of Cheyenne, said Tuesday the sentence was fair.

"What I did was wrong," Hauck said Tuesday afternoon in a telephone interview. "I was a drug addict."

He said he had a series of three or four accidents in a row and was legitimately prescribed the medications by his physician and took them as instructed.

"After a while I liked the way they made me feel," Hauck said.

He said he has been working on his addiction through Wyoming Recovery in Casper. He also is getting help through the Wyoming Professional Assistance Program for physicians and dentists with addiction problems.

"So I'm closely monitored. I get drug tested one or two times a week," he said.

Hauck still is practicing dentistry. His license remains in effect, and he has a hearing scheduled before the Board of Dental Examiners in December.

He no longer has a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration but doesn't miss it. He said he has found he can treat pain with drugs other than Vicodin and the like.

Hauck said that with time off for going through the treatment program, he expects to serve nine months in prison, followed by six months in a halfway house.

Hauck, 35, is married and has three children, ages 4 to 12.

"I'm ashamed of what I did, but I'm also proud of the fact I'm clean," he said.

He said he also would like to help other addicts.

Hauck has a "self-surrender" date of Jan. 4, 2010, to report to serve his sentence, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol Statkus.

"This case underscores just how important it is for health care providers, pharmacists, law enforcement and the public to work together to educate people about the real dangers associated with the illegal use and misuse of prescription medications," U.S. Attorney Kelly Rankin said in a media release. "There is a fallacy out there that these drugs are somehow safer because they are manufactured in a laboratory. Sadly, unless taken as lawfully prescribed, this myth has caused an increase in illegal use and unintentional overdose deaths in Wyoming."

According to the release, Hauck would write or call into a pharmacy a bogus prescription for oxycodone or hydrocodone pills in the name of an employee or some other person.

After the prescription was filled, the employee or other person would give the pills to Hauck. In most cases, Hauck used all of the pills, but he would also split them with "certain individuals," the release said.

After Hauck surrendered his DEA registration, Bills called in bogus prescriptions for the hydrocodone pills in the names of an employee and patient of Hauck. The employee and the patient gave the pills to Hauck for his own use.

Hauck also admitting to using a significant number of pills he received from pharmacies for office use for distribution directly to a patient.

Contact Joan Barron at joan.barron@trib.com or at 307-632-1244.