The 8-year prison sentence handed down last week for an Ironton area doctor who pleaded guilty conspiracy to traffic

in drugs was met with grim satisfaction by local law enforcement.

U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott sentenced Dr. Randall McCollister to 97 months in prison and ordered him to pay a $15,000 fine for his part of a drug scheme that was operated out of his medical office.

"I'm satisfied. I think it was a just sentence; I think justice was served," Ironton police detective, Capt. Chris Bowman said. "We took this very seriously from the onset. It's the first time ever we took it (the investigation) to the source."

"I think the judge considered his position as a doctor," Lawrence County Prosecutor J.B. Collier, Jr. said. "I think she went above the sentencing guidelines in giving him that sentence."

In pleading guilty in connection with the case, McCollister agreed to surrender his medical license for life.

Collier said the arrest required a "significant effort" on the part of law enforcement, noting that prosecuting a doctor is different than prosecuting or investigating other people because of the relations doctors have with patients and their ability to write prescriptions for narcotics and pain relievers based on their judgment of their their patient's medical ailment.

McCollister was sentenced last Wednesday along with patients Lawrence Jenkins, who received a 12-month prison sentence and ordered to pay a $500 fine for his part in the scheme. In addition to the federal charges, Jenkins also faces sentencing on state drug charges. Donald Sherman was sentenced to six months of home confinement and three years probation.

Collier and Bowman said they hoped that McCollister's case sends a message to those who deal in drugs that this will not be tolerated in Lawrence County.

Both Bowman and Collier said they were particularly pleased with the spirit of cooperation among the various agencies involved in the investigation of the McCollister case. Usually crimes that occur within the city limits of Ironton are investigated by the city police department. But the magnitude of the McCollister case required city police to call for help from the prosecutor's office, sheriff's office and various state and federal agencies. The additional resources made the difference.

"We would not have been able to put a case like this together," Bowman said. "We wouldn't have had the money for the job."

McCollister has requested to serve his sentence at the Federal Correction Institution in Summit, Ky., which would be a 20-minute drive for his relatives in Lawrence County to visit him. Dlott did not oppose the request; it will ultimately be the decision of the U.S. Marshal's Office where McCollister is sent.