A federal judge has sentenced a former Bridgeton pediatrician to 20 years in federal prison after prosecutors said he used prescriptions as currency for sex, explicit photos and cash. Craig A. Spiegel, 70, admitted in December that he issued medically unnecessary prescriptions to vulnerable patients over a period spanning roughly 2014 to May 2023.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, U.S. District Judge John A. Ross imposed the 20-year sentence on March 24, 2026. The office quoted FBI Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker as saying Spiegel was "no better than a street-level drug dealer" who "knowingly exploited individuals struggling with addiction."
Local court filings and reporting by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch say prosecutors tied Spiegel to roughly 1,200 prescriptions and more than 73,000 pills, including opioids, stimulants and benzodiazepines. The Post-Dispatch reports that many of the victims were adults whom Spiegel had treated as children, and that he often pressured them into sex acts, nude photos or cash in exchange for medications.
Charges and legal penalties
Spiegel pleaded guilty in December to illegal distribution of controlled substances, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and making false statements related to health care, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri reported. The conspiracy and distribution counts each carry a maximum potential sentence of 20 years, while the false-statements charge carries up to five years, and Judge Ross ordered Spiegel to repay $114,480 to federal and state health programs.
Investigation and fallout
Bridgeton police opened the case after a woman reported being groped during a clinic visit in the spring of 2022, and investigators later obtained a search warrant for Spiegel's office, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Court documents reviewed by the paper say investigators found extensive phone messages and contacts with more than a dozen women, and that one woman identified in the filings died of an overdose on April 4, 2022.
