Presque Isle County prosecuting attorney Rick Steiger faced charges in Alpena. Assistant Attorney General Gregory Townsend (right) is handling the case on behalf of the state.

The attorney general’s office issued a press release Dec. 27, 2011 stating the prosecutor had been “doctor shopping” to obtain various narcotics painkillers, which is a felony. District Court Judge Theodore Johnson is presiding over the case and will rule at the end of the hearing whether there is enough evidence to bind the case to Circuit Court for trial. On Tuesday, Johnson heard from three witnesses in the case over the course of a three-and-a-half hour period, starting in the morning and continuing into the afternoon. Testifying were Steiger’s ex-wife Kirah, Alpena Regional Medical Center physician’s assistant Jeffrey Kwiatkowski and Dr. Robert John Coombs of Alpena. The hearing will continue Feb. 2 with Dr. Jeffrey Kiel of Indian River expected to take the stand at 1:30 p.m.

An emotional Steiger continued to defend himself after Tuesday’s hearing, saying, “it’s clear from all medical records, all doctors knew of each other, they knew what medications I was receiving, and to listen to the perjury that came out of Dr. Coombs’ mouth today, just horrified me.” Steiger vows to be “exonerated.” He is being represented by Alpena attorneys Dan White and Troy Clarke. Assistant Attorney General Gregory Townsend is handling the case on behalf of the state. “I can’t give any comment on anything,” he cordially responded in the hallway outside of the courtroom. “The proceeding is still on going.”

Townsend was asked if there would be any more witnesses, “not sure yet.” KIRAH STEIGER testified that she was approached by one of her and Rick’s children, who expressed a concern about his prescription drug use in September. “Were you concerned about your children’s safety?” Townsend asked. “And his health, yes,” Carol Steiger responded. Kirah Steiger, who shares custody of their children, found “two bottles of medication and a white powder” in Rick’s Rogers City home. The powdery substance was later determined to be the painkiller Percocet and was being taken with water in a crushed state for quicker release in the body. She contacted authorities and later met in an Alpena cemetery with the then commander of the HUNT team, Mike Hahn and handed over what she found. Kirah Steiger said she met in the cemetery because she didn’t want to go to the Alpena State Police Post, and wanted to remain “confidential.”

White accused her of committing “larceny” by taking the drugs out of his client’s home. Kirah Steiger also testified that her former spouse had been taking painkillers when they were married. She said he had “multiple sinus surgeries” in the early 1990s. The attorney general’s office presented two enlarged displays of MAPS (Michigan Administrative Prescription System), which tracks prescriptions medications that are issued and filled. Coombs and Kwiatkowski both testified that if they had run MAPS they wouldn’t have continued to give Steiger additional painkillers, but didn’t run the report because of his position as prosecutor and legal advisor of the HUNT team, a position he still holds. The report indicates Steiger received hundreds of units of different narcotic painkillers, including Oxycontin, Oxycodone and Percocet, mostly during a two year period, starting in Sept. 2009.

“That’s a lot of medication,” said Kwiatkowski, when asked about the report. Additionally, he called it “overkill.” Steiger was treated at the hospital for an abscess in September over a three day period. White said the medical record keeping was not accurate at the hospital or Coombs’ office. White said his client informed Kwiatkowski “that he’s eating up all of his pills because of the pain.” With Coombs on the stand, Townsend pointed out that Steiger was receiving painkillers from two doctors at once. In one case, it was at Coombs’ office in Alpena and Steiger’s primary physician in Indian River on the same day. While the form Steiger filled out at Coombs’ office indicated he was prescribed the drug Norco from Kiel, Coombs said Steiger “minimalized” the amount.

Coombs said, “It’s an abuse problem, it’s a fraud problem.” “The form doesn’t ask (how many he was taking),” White said, with Coombs on the stand. “It will in the future,” Coombs answered. Coombs said he would have discharged Steiger if he had run the MAPS report and saw the amount of pills he was being prescribed. The hearing will continue next month in Alpena.