BOSTON (AP) – A former surgeon who was suspended after leaving a patient on the operating table while he ran to the bank was arrested Wednesday on drug charges.

David Arndt, 44, was arrested near his Boston home. The indictment charges him with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine.

Arndt was arraigned last August on state methamphetamine possession charges stemming from the same case. Suffolk County prosecutors will now dismiss their charges so the case can proceed in federal court, said David Procopio, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney’s office.

Arndt gained local infamy in July 2002, when he left a patient on the operating table during a back operation at Cambridge’s Mount Auburn Hospital while he deposited a check. His license was suspended a month later and the license expired in October 2002.

He was also indicted in October 2002 for allegedly raping and assaulting a 15-year-old boy in Cambridge. He pleaded innocent in the case, which is still pending.

The new federal indictment alleges that between April 2003 and August 2003 in Boston, New York City and other parts of Massachusetts, Arndt conspired to obtain and sell methamphetamine.

It also alleges he was caught with at least 50 grams of methamphetamine in August 2003.

Following an initial appearance in U.S. District Court Wednesday, Arndt was being held pending a detention hearing, scheduled for Friday.

AP-ES-06-02-04 1635EDT

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