Bridgeport, West Virginia, doctor testifies for about 6 hours Monday in his defense case

On the phone-wiping charge, Hess testified he had concerns because some of his children’s personal information was on the phone, along with his passwords for everything from home security and personal use to some work-related information.

“Yes, I did try to remote-wipe my phone because I was scared that the information on my children and my passwords would be leaked,” said Hess, a family medical practitioner from 1993 until he surrendered his West Virginia license in 2023.

Hess has admitted he crossed ethical lines, including having sex with a patient for whom he prescribed Adderall in what the government said was an unlawful fashion. But in questioning from defense attorney Mike Benninger on Monday, Hess repeatedly denied stepping outside the lines of medical practice or prescribing medicine without a legitimate reason.

For one nurse who was a patient, for instance, Hess said he prescribed Adderall and another drug because she had attention deficit disorder and also was overweight. Part of being a family practitioner, Hess indicated, is looking for ways to get the most out of medicine.

Hess also spoke at length about prescribing Xanax to a woman who had overdosed on Percocet due to her husband’s terminal diagnosis, and then again prescribing her Xanax after she had overdosed on that drug as her husband was dying.

“I thought that was an inappropriate time to take her off Xanax,” Hess testified, referring to the second overdose.

He later added, “I don’t think what she did was right” in overdosing on Xanax that second time, “but I can see why she did it. She was stressed. Her husband was dying.”

Hess may have raised a few eyebrows when he explained why he was confident he’d stayed within the bounds of medicine in regard to the nurse he’d treated who was also his lover, and in regard to another nurse/patient with whom he’d exchanged thousands of texts, including sexts.

“If you’re with a friend or someone you care about, you try to give excellent care,” Hess said. He had prefaced that by indicating that he tried to give the same type of care to all his patients, but by taking the time to differentiate, it could have left some to wonder whether friends and lovers got special treatment.

Benninger and co-counsel Tim Linkous, both of Morgantown, spent the entire day Monday crafting a picture of Hess as a caring family doctor who spent plenty of time diagnosing patients. In addition to Hess, they called his longtime nurse, who had nothing but good things to say about Hess.

And the defense may have scored some points when describing the 2019 raid of Hess’s office and seizure of his phone.

Hess said that when his phone was seized, Bridgeport Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration and State Police — with their guns drawn — were outside the hospice where he attended to patients. He also described about 10 agents combing through his Bridgeport clinic while he and staff huddled in the waiting room — after some patients had been turned away.

Benninger is set to continue direct examination of Hess on Tuesday morning. Then Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Cogar will get a chance at cross-examination, which is likely to be lengthy, considering the amount of time Hess was on the stand Monday.

Whether the case gets to the jury for deliberations Tuesday likely will depend on how long Cogar’s questioning lasts and how long Benninger spends on redirect; whether Benninger and Linkous have any other witnesses; and whether Cogar, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eleanor Hurney and the DEA investigator decide to present any witnesses in rebuttal.

Hess is facing 17 counts alleging he unlawfully prescribed Adderall, an amphetamine, for weight loss to three women instead of for attention deficit disorder; three counts alleging he prescribed Xanax unlawfully to an elderly woman who had overdosed on the drug; and one count alleging he obstructed justice by trying to remotely wipe his phone’s contents while it was in the custody of law enforcement.

Hess has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million on the Adderall charges; up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million on the Xanax charges; and up to five years and a fine on the obstructing charge.

Under federal sentencing laws, it’s possible that if Hess were convicted of all charges, the counts could be joined into a sentence of not more than 20 years and a fine of not more than $1 million, with an enhancement for obstruction figuring in the calculation for what U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh might hand down.

Both sides have presented experts in prescribing practices: Dr. Carol Forster of Northern Virginia for the government and Dr. Michael Yaffe of Columbus, Ohio, for the defense. Each expert came under withering cross-examination: Forster from Linkous; Yaffe from Cogar.

Hess already permanently surrendered his license to practice medicine in West Virginia after admitting he had sex with a nurse who also was a patient. That came via a 2023 consent order with the West Virginia Board of Medicine.

Before that, in October 2009, Hess entered into a consent order with the state Board of Medicine by which he was placed on licensure probation for five years, was fined $1,000 and was publicly reprimanded “for his gross negligence in the use and control of prescription forms, pre-signing blank prescription forms and for his unprofessional conduct.”