Probation For LI Lawmaker Who Tried To Trade Drugs For Sex: DA

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A former Suffolk County legislator was sentenced to three years' probation Thursday, after his arrest in 2020 following an attempt to trade drugs for sex with a woman he believed to be a prostitute, District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

Former Suffolk County Legis. William "Doc" Spencer was sentenced to three years probation with mental health, alcohol, and narcotics conditions and credit for 1 year of interim probation, as statutorily required, Tierney's office said.

"Such sentence was imposed only after Spencer served six months in jail, completed 480 hours of community service, voluntarily suspended his medical license, and agreed to forfeit his prescribing privileges forever," the DA's office said.

Spencer, 56, of Centerport, showed up to the meeting to trade oxycodone pills for sex, but it was a sting, with an undercover police officer posing as the prostitute, prosecutors said. Spencer, then-legislator of Suffolk's 18th District and also a doctor, was arrested in a parking lot.

Spencer was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance — both Class B felonies, officials said.

Officials — including the Suffolk District Attorney's Office, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and Long Island Heroin Task Force — were working a drug investigation when it became clear Spencer was in contact with a prostitute, former Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini said at the time. The legislator agreed to meet up with the undercover officer and supply her with oxycodone pills, Sini said. He arrived to the meeting in his county-issued car with a pair of oxycodone pills, Sini said.

Spencer had been a Suffolk County legislator since 2012. Spencer also served on the county’s Heroin and Opiate Epidemic Advisory Panel.

Prevention advocates were stunned by news of Spencer's 2020 arrest.

Spencer had publicly led the charge for years in the fight against drugs and vaping in Suffolk County. Spencer worked to craft legislation against vaping.

In 2019, he described his position to Patch: "As a practicing physician, specializing in pediatrics, I am astutely aware of health issues impacting our youth. A major pressing issue for me is addressing the vape crisis. Recent reports of several deaths associated with vaping, as well as multiple cases of 'vape lung,' give me great concern, and I am working with our schools and the Health Department to educate parents and students on the dangers of vaping. In addition I am introducing legislation to help address the epidemic," he said.

With reporting by Michael DeSantis.