Trial date set for Riverton dentist
Drug charges against Lander dentist could be dismissed
By Martin Reed
Staff Writer

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Wyoming is considering dismissing narcotics charges against Lander orthodontist Brent Bills, according to court documents.
But the related prosecution against Riverton dentist Daniel Hauck is proceeding with a jury trial date set for July 20 in Cheyenne.
A federal indictment filed in May accuses Hauck and Bills of illegally distributing and obtaining oxycodone and hydrocodone, both prescription painkillers.
Hauck faces 61 total charges carrying a maximum of 425 years in prison and $14.5 million in fines, while Bills could receive up to 69 years and $3.5 million in penalties if convicted of the 10 charges against him.
Assistant U.S. Attorney L. Robert Murray in Cheyenne on June 17 filed a motion to halt the prosecution against Bills for 18 months. Murray in his motion stated that Bills’s case was referred to the U.S. Probation Office for placement in the pretrial diversion program.
Under a deal expected between Bills and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the prosecution “will agree to dismiss the pending charges at the end of the period of pretrial diversion if the defendant complies with all of the terms and conditions imposed upon him in the agreement,” according to Murray’s motion.
“Both parties agree that the United States may initiate the prosecution again if the defendant violates any of those terms and conditions,” the document stated.
In a letter dated May 21 from Murray to Bills, the prosecutor wrote that “we have made a preliminary determination that your case may be an appropriate one for referral to a pretrial diversion program.”
Murray stated that pretrial diversion “means that this office will not presently seek a conviction against you. ... If you satisfactorily fulfill the conditions and terms of your program, the prosecution against you referred to above will be discharged and you will not have a permanent criminal record.”
The probationary period under the expected agreement will not exceed a year, according to the letter.
Cheryl Gloe, chief probation officer for the U.S. Probation Office in Cheyenne, provided a recommendation to Murray to place Bills on the pretrial diversion program, according to a letter from her dated May 21.
Based on Murray’s motion, U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson in an order dated June 18 agreed with halting the prosecution against Bills.
“The facts and circumstances clearly indicate that the ends of justice would be served by granting a continuance of the proceedings in this matter,” according to Johnson’s order.
The judge also ordered that after 18 months the prosecution will need to inform the court “as to the status of the case, either through a dismissal of the indictment ... or a motion to initiate prosecution of the defendant.”
Meanwhile, the prosecution against Hauck is advancing with the Riverton dentist this month losing his two defense lawyers and gaining former Wyoming attorney general Gay Woodhouse of Cheyenne as legal counsel.
Woodhouse, who became the state’s first female attorney general in 1998 under Gov. Jim Geringer, filed an entry of appearance as Hauck’s lawyer on June 17, according to court documents.
Lawyers David Hooper of Riverton and Robert Stewart of San Rafael, Calif., filed a motion to withdraw from Hauck’s case on June 23.
Authorities arrested Hauck and Bills in May after an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.
Their joint federal indictment alleges distribution of prescription painkillers to patients from March 2007 through last November. In addition to two conspiracy charges, Bills faces eight charges alleging he illegally distributed hydrocodone between last September and November.
The indictment alleges the two “did knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully combine, conspire, and agree with each other, and with other persons known to the grand jury to distribute and dispense mixtures and substances containing” oxycodone and hydrocodone.
The document also alleges in a charge that Hauck and Bills conspired to obtain the controlled substances “by misrepresentation, fraud, and deception.”