Ex-Maumee doctor pleads guilty on firearms charges

8/27/2013

A former Maumee cardiologist convicted of illegally distributing prescription pain medication pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to illegal weapons charges.

Barry P. DeRan, 55, of Lambertville pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge James Knepp to one count of conspiracy and eight counts of aiding and abetting in making false statements in the acquisition of firearms. He is expected to face 12 to 18 months in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 30.

DeRan was indicted in January in federal court on charges he conspired with others to purchase firearms through the Internet and concealed his identity as the actual purchaser of the firearms because “he was prohibited from possessing, using, carrying, or obtaining any deadly weapons by a Lucas County Common Pleas Court civil protection order.”

The indictment further alleged DeRan purchased 11 firearms from an Arizona-based dealer between August, 2010, and May, 2011, and had them shipped to a licensed Ohio firearms dealer where they were then transferred to another person “falsely identified as the actual buyer.”

In Lucas County Common Pleas Court, DeRan pleaded guilty July 23 to four counts each of trafficking in drugs and attempted trafficking in drugs for prescribing the painkiller, OxyContin on multiple occasions in 2009 to people who were not under his care but were people he knew or those referred to him. As part of a plea agreement, he must surrender his state medical license.

DeRan is to be sentenced Sept. 18 by Judge Gene Zmuda on the state charges.