Idaho doctor indicted in alleged drug ring sanctioned a year ago

A Coeur d’Alene doctor indicted as part of an alleged multistate drug trafficking ring surrendered his passport Monday and was released from federal custody.

Dr. Stanley Alvin Toelle, 61, a gastroenterologist for Kootenai Health, is charged in U.S. District Court with conspiracy to launder money in a case allegedly involving at least $1.3 million in drug proceeds since 2009.

Toelle’s arrest Thursday came one year after he was reprimanded by the Idaho State Board of Medicine over allegations he prescribed excessive amounts of controlled substances to patients, including those addicted to narcotics or hallucinogenic drugs.

The hospital said Friday it had placed Toelle on “precautionary leave,” and his name was scrubbed from Kootenai’s website.

Toelle’s wife, Loren Michelle Toelle, 51, her two sons, her brother and two others face federal drug distribution charges in the alleged drug ring. They are accused of conspiracy to distribute heroin, methamphetamine and oxycodone pills in Coeur d’Alene, Spokane, Las Vegas, Missoula and parts of North Dakota, including Williston, Fargo and in and around the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

Loren Toelle, her sons Steven Wayne Jackson, 30, and Sean Lee Jackson, 27, and her brother Robert Lamar Hill, 54, all are listed as Las Vegas residents. They are ordered to appear in federal court in Coeur d’Alene.

Her daughter, Sherlann Simon, 34, of North Las Vegas, Nevada, is charged with conspiracy to launder money and also must appear in federal court in Coeur d’Alene.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Idaho also has filed charges seeking forfeiture of at least $1.3 million in cash, Dr. Toelle’s 4,700-square-foot house overlooking Silver Beach on Lake Coeur d’Alene, three homes in Las Vegas and 10 vehicles, including four registered to Loren Toelle and three registered to Stanley Toelle.

The trial is scheduled for March 14.

Loren Toelle has a previous drug conviction in Kootenai County. In 2010, she was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years of probation after she pleaded guilty in 1st District Court to delivery of a controlled substance.

Stanley Toelle, who has practiced for 35 years, spent four days in federal custody before a judge approved his release Monday afternoon. He was ordered not to leave Idaho, not to have any contact with his wife or any others charged in the case, to surrender any weapons in his home, and to stay away from narcotics or controlled substances.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale warned Toelle he’d end up back in jail if he attempted to flee.

“I know he does not wish to do so,” answered his lawyer, Nicolas Vieth of Coeur d’Alene.

Vieth and Toelle declined to comment after the detention hearing at the federal courthouse.

The arrests followed an investigation by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the IRS, local law enforcement in Kootenai County and other agencies in Washington, Nevada and North Dakota, under the umbrella of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force.

On Thursday, officers served 18 search warrants in Idaho, Nevada and North Dakota and arrested seven suspects.

Also charged with drug distribution in the case are Kristin Rene Wilson, 28, of Las Vegas, a friend of Loren Toelle’s; and Jessica Nadine Frederick, 27, of Liberty Lake, a former girlfriend of Loren Toelle’s brother, Robert Hill. Frederick remains a fugitive.

In January 2015, Stanley Toelle and the Idaho State Board of Medicine signed a stipulation and order to settle allegations that Toelle “may have prescribed or furnished narcotics or hallucinogenic drugs to addicted persons to maintain their addictions and level of usage without attempting to treat the primary condition requiring the use of narcotics.”

The board said it had sufficient evidence to discipline Toelle, who denied the allegations but waived his right to a formal hearing. Toelle agreed to only write prescriptions for controlled substances for pain for patients who have a confirmed diagnosis of an abdominal condition treated by gastroenterologists. He also agreed to complete approved courses in chronic pain and record-keeping.

Toelle received his license to practice medicine in Idaho in 1990 and was approved as a supervising physician in April 2012. He graduated from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson in 1981.

He and his wife were married in October 2010.