Del Mar osteopath pleads guilty to oxycodone distribution

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A Del Mar osteopath who sold painkiller prescriptions to addicts and drug dealers pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to conspiracy to unlawfully dispense and distribute oxycodone.

William Joseph Watson faces up to 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced Dec. 8, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Sheppard.

The defendant — who had been indicted on 40 other counts of oxycodone distribution — pleaded guilty as jury selection was to begin in his trial.

Watson preached natural medical remedies on his website, but investigators said the doctor was writing prescriptions for hydrocodone, oxycodone and Xanax to drug dealers and addicts for up to $500 per prescription.

Watson, arrested in June 2013, was secretly recorded selling prescriptions to an undercover agent and an informant, authorities said.