ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The federal case against a St. Augustine doctor accused of trading sex for drugs got underway Friday with jury selection.
Scott Hollington is charged with 20 criminal counts in what prosecutors say was a scheme to exploit drug addicts for sexual favors.
The charges include one count of conspiracy, 14 counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and five counts of obstruction of justice. He has pleaded not guilty.
According to court filings, prosecutors will rely on the testimony of both undercover FBI agents who pretended to be patients at Hollington’s Sawgrass Medical practice, as well as five actual patients.
“The defendant knew his patients had an addiction problem and took advantage of their legitimate need for medical treatment by eliciting and receiving sexual favors,” federal prosecutors said in a court filing.
“...[T]he defendant knew his patients did not have the money to pay for their doctor’s visits nor their prescriptions, so the defendant elicited and received sexual favors in lieu of payment," prosecutors wrote. "This testimony will demonstrate how the defendant took advantage of his patients' necessity for treatment to quench his sexual desires...”
In court filings, Hollington’s defense attorney argued that his sexual interactions with patients are immaterial because the doctor was prescribing medically necessary prescriptions to patients coping with addiction.
Hollington's attorney asked the judge to “prohibit the government from introducing any allegation of sexual activity with Dr. Hollington involving the patients in Counts 12-15 -- until such time as the government has proven said patients did not have a legitimate need for the prescription... The government is not the morals police.”
The judge denied that request.
However, the judge did grant a defense motion to limit some videotaped evidence secretly recorded by FBI agents posing as patients. Hollington’s attorney said the doctor’s comments would be “prejudicial” and irrelevant.
According to court filings, those comments included “the defendant discuss[ing] General Robert E. Lee, the Civil War, slavery, and pros and cons of the North versus the South.” They included the comment, “What really happened to the South is something.”
In a separate motion, the defendants asked the judge to keep out video segments where the doctor shared his thoughts on COVID and engaged in sexual banter with a patient.
Prosecutors said they had no intention of using his COVID comments at trial, but argued the sexual comments were relevant. They said Hollington was recorded “making inappropriate and unprofessional comments to what was known to him as his patients (undercover agents) about the size of his penis and his affinity for woman and their sexual body parts.”
“Not only are the defendant’s statements relevant, but they are extremely unprofessional,” prosecutors wrote. “These statements directly highlight the defendant inability to ask pertinent questions for the purpose of legitimately prescribing medication in the usual course of professional practice.”
The judge agreed to exclude the COVID comments. He denied the request to prohibit the sexual conversation from being used at trial, but said the defense could raise the matter again, if warranted.
The trial begins with opening statements Monday, July 17 at 9 a.m.
