Doctor of Deceased Wrestler Pleads Guilty

2009-01-30 17:56:16 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - Law, News)

Chris Benoit doctor pleads guilty in illegal drug distribution case

The physician to a professional wrestler, who in 2007 killed himself and his family, pleads guilty to illegal prescription drug distribution.

WiredPRNews.com – The doctor who was physician to Chris Benoit, a professional wrestler who killed his wife and son before taking his own life in 2007, has pled guilty to illegal prescription drug distribution charges. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), Dr. Phil Astin pled guilty on Thursday to 175 counts of conspiracy and improper drug dispensing.

Astin was said to have provided prescription drugs to patients who became addicted to them afterward. As noted in the AP report, the doctor could receive up to 20 years in prison for some of the counts as well as be fined $1 million for several of them. Seventeen of his patients were the focus of the indictment against Astin.

Chris Benoit was said to have been prescribed anabolic steroids by Astin, however it was undetermined whether the drugs were a factor in the deaths of he and his family.

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