Dentist is given 2-year sentence for corruption

10/20/2005
Peter Wolfram, a Maumee dentist, is led away in handcuffs after his sentencing in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
Peter Wolfram, a Maumee dentist, is led away in handcuffs after his sentencing in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

A Maumee dentist who enticed a 13-year-old boy to try what police said was crack cocaine was sentenced yesterday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court to two years in prison.

Peter Wolfram, 41, who was convicted of attempted corruption of another with drugs, could have been placed on community control for the crime.

But Judge Gary Cook imposed the prison sentence, in part, because of the harm caused to the victim.

"You brought somebody else along for the ride. He was a 13-year-old. I just can't imagine some parent out there finding out for the first time that their child was introduced to crack cocaine," Judge Cook said during the sentencing.

Wolfram, who lives at 6391 Glenhurst Drive, faced up to five years in prison. He entered into a plea agreement Sept. 10.

At the time of the incident, Wolfram, then a Sylvania Township resident, took the boy, who then was 12, to his office at the Fallen Timbers Medical Center in Maumee, and then to the Residence Inn in Springfield Township.

Prosecutors said the victim smoked the drug after Wolfram told him the substance in the crack pipe was a gas that commonly is used to sedate dental patients.

The defendant returned the victim to his home, and he later told a counselor at his school about the incident.

Jon Richardson, an attorney representing Wolfram, said his client was undergoing counseling for a drinking problem when he got hooked on cocaine, an addiction that drastically changed his behavior and sent him into a downward spiral.

Wolfram told the court he was sorry for the harm he caused the victim.

But Judge Cook wanted to know why the defendant involved the victim in his drug problem, and asked how he would feel if it was his child who was given crack cocaine.

Wolfram replied that he would be upset.

Police said Wolfram also offered $100 to the teenager to engage in sex acts, but the charge for that offense - compelling prostitution - was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

After the hearing, Mr. Richardson said the prison sentence was appropriate for the crime.

"What Judge Cook did was perfectly fair under the circumstances," Mr. Richardson said.