Horsham doctor gets 25 years in oxycodone ring

NORRISTOWN - September 24, 2013 (WPVI) -- A Montgomery County doctor has been sentenced to 25 years behind bars for running an oxycodone distribution ring that federal authorities said resulted in an overdose death from the powerful painkiller.

A federal jury in July convicted 74-year-old Dr. Norman Werther of Horsham on more than 300 counts, including distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death.

Federal prosecutor Nancy Winter said at Tuesday's sentencing that Werther made a fortune on the suffering of others.

Authorities said he helped put more than 1 million oxycodone tablets on the street from 2009 until his initial arrest in 2011.

Prosecutors said Werther prescribed at least 180 oxycodone tablets to Nate Backes in the summer of 2010 before the man's overdose death.

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