A federal grand jury on Wednesday morning returned an 18-count indictment against a former Murray doctor and two of his office assistants, accusing the group of running a prescription drug outlet that saw as many as 80 patients a day.

During a press conference held Wednesday, federal, state and local law enforcement officials said this case left a trail of "despair" and "tragedy" in the wake of a rogue doctor who was referred to by some as "The Candy Man."

"This, at its heart, is a case of a drug dealer," said Salt Lake County Sheriff James Winder.

Warren R. Stack, Mindy L. Kramer and Phyllis V. Murray were named in the indictment on charges of distributing a controlled substance, health care fraud and money laundering. The indictment includes distribution charges against Stack in which the deaths of five of his patients were attributed to the drugs. According to the DEA, there were other deaths, but investigators identified five that clearly were linked to the medications Stack prescribed.

The indictment states Stack wrote "Express Scripts" from a "make-shift desk in his waiting room" where he would quickly review the patient's file "without conducting even the pretense of a medical examination." Stack's office, which saw as many as 80 patients a day, charged between $70 to $200 per patient visit and made an estimated $750,000 from fraudulent conduct, according to the charges. The indictment states he shared those proceeds with Kramer and Murray through payroll deposits.

DEA agent Frank Smith said Stack's reputation on the street, combined with the large amount of prescriptions he wrote, prompted DEA to send several undercover agents to his office.

Stack was arrested in May for investigation of dealing large quantities of narcotic pain killers to people without a legitimate medical reason. Investigators said Stack either handed out or wrote prescriptions for more than 3.5 million pain pills from 2001 to May 2007.

Smith said while serving a search warrant at Stack's office, they had customers looking for more drugs showing up "every few minutes."

According to the indictment, Stack's office prescribed various narcotics, including OxyContin, oxycodone, methadone, Methadose, Percocet and Endocet. The indictment states that Stack, Kramer and Murray routinely billed patients and health care programs for medical exams that never took place.

After Stack's May arrest, he was released after charges were never filed. Winder acknowledged that the case did "linger" for several months but said the delay was due to the involvement of many different agencies.

If convicted, Kramer and Murray face up to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Stack faces not less than 20 years up to life for each of five counts of dealing drugs that resulted in death, and 10 to 20 more years for the remaining counts.

U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman said the case has left a trail of people who are now drug addicts, adding with prescription drug abuse on the rise in Utah, his office is taking a strong stance against medical professionals dispensing narcotics without justification.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Stack, Kramer and Murray. Tollman said all three will be given a chance to self-surrender to authorities.

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