Police Complete Investigation of 13 Current and Former Baseball Players in 'Oh Jaewon Proxy Prescription' Case... "All Charges Admitted"

Five Authors of Doctor Community Posts Referred for Prosecution

The police investigation into 13 baseball players, who were reportedly forced by former national baseball player Oh Jae-won (39, in custody) to obtain prescriptions on his behalf in connection with his drug use charges, has been completed.

On the 20th, Cho Ji-ho, Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, stated at a press briefing, "The investigations of the 13 individuals have been completed, and all admitted to having obtained prescriptions on behalf of Oh."

Oh Jae-won is attending the pre-arrest detention hearing (warrant review) held on the afternoon of March 21 at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Doosan Bears, the team Oh was part of during his active career, reported to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) last month that eight of their players had obtained sleeping pills on Oh's behalf.

Oh was arrested and indicted on the 17th of last month on charges including violation of the Narcotics Control Act (psychotropic substances) and violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (retaliatory threats, etc.). Notably, during the investigation, allegations arose that he involved junior baseball players in obtaining sleeping pills through proxy prescriptions.

All 13 current and former professional baseball players involved have been booked by the police. They are mainly known to belong to the second-tier teams. The police are expected to decide on the case soon. Commissioner Cho said, "The team initially mentioned eight players, but upon verification, it was not all of them. We are keeping open the possibility of others being involved."

Additionally, the police have sent five individuals to the prosecution on charges including defamation for posting inappropriate content on the medical and medical student community 'MediStaff.' Earlier, the police identified 23 authors of posts on MediStaff and have completed investigations on 21 of them. Commissioner Cho stated, "We will proceed to send cases to the prosecution sequentially as we conclude each matter."