A Payson surgeon who traded two female patients prescription painkillers for sex was sentenced Tuesday to probation, 120 days in jail and sex-offender counseling.
Max Kent Cannon, 50, also has lost his license to practice medicine because of the crimes.
Prosecutor Alexander Ludlow said he asked for more jail time, but 4th District Judge David Mortensen declined because Cannon was suffering, at the time, from an undiagnosed bipolar disorder.
Defense attorney Earl Xaiz said Cannon spoke to the judge about his family, "which is what's most important to him. He's thoroughly disgusted with himself for what he's put them through."
As part of a plea deal, Cannon pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing a controlled substance, a third-degree felony, and two counts of prostitution, a class B misdemeanor.
Xaiz said that if Cannon successfully completes his 36-month probation, they can ask the judge to reduce the felonies to misdemeanors, which could mean Cannon could again practice medicine.
Cannon was arrested in January when police bugged a hotel meeting between him and a former patient, who led him to believe she would have sex with him in exchange for OxyContin, according to court documents.
Police arranged the sting after another of Cannon's patients claimed she had met the doctor at a motel for sex in exchange for Lortab and hydrocodone, according to documents.
The woman said she met Cannon when she needed a stomach bypass surgery, then in April 2007 rented a motel room with $100 Cannon gave her. He wrote out a prescription before they had sex, and over the next two months gave her six more prescriptions because she promised to "arrange a threesome," documents state.
The woman who helped police with the arrest told police Cannon continued giving her the painkiller Percocet months after a July hernia operation. She said he made "off-color comments" about her body, called and text messaged her late at night and on weekends to ask if she needed more Percocet, documents state.
She re-initiated contact with Cannon at the request of police and agreed when he asked to meet.
