DA says Suffolk County lawmaker tried to trade drugs for sex

DA says Suffolk County lawmaker tried to trade drugs for sex

FILE - This Aug. 29, 2018, file photo shows an arrangement of Oxycodone pills in New York. Data released on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020 shows that U.S. life expectancy has improved for the first time in four years, thanks to a sharp decline in the cancer death rate and to a drop in fatal drug overdoses. Overdose deaths had skyrocketed through 2017, but the death rate fell 4% in 2018 and the number of deaths dropped from about 70,000 to about 67,000. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say a Long Island lawmaker who is also a doctor has been arrested on drug charges after he tried to trade pills for sex. Suffolk County Legislator William Spencer was arrested Tuesday on charges of third-degree sale of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Newsday reports that he pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday. Prosecutors say Spencer had a relationship with a prostitute whom he paid with the opioid oxycodone. His attorney, Mark Goidell, says Spencer dedicated his life to “the well-being of the community, his family and his patients.”

 

Photo: (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)