Local doctor threw drug, sex parties at his Henderson home

Andrew Scott Martin didn’t know he was talking to an undercover cop when he whispered the password to his swingers party.

So when the detective showed up to see what it was all about, Martin tried to give her MDMA, a psychoactive party drug, with a kiss.

Now, the Las Vegas board-certified orthopaedic surgeon, who prosecutors say threw large, drug-fueled sex parties at his Henderson home and at the Trump Hotel, is facing 10 drug charges, including three counts of trafficking a controlled substance, and years in prison.

Martin, the 47-year-old who partygoers called “Scotty” or “Doctor Scott,” was charged along with his wife, Jennifer Martin, also known as Jennifer Lynn Taylor, and six others with connections to the kinky affairs. Authorities said Martin regularly hosted themed sex parties that attracted hundreds of people who snorted cocaine, swallowed pills and smoked marijuana.

The doctor’s wife pleaded guilty earlier this month to a single charge of possession of drugs which may not be introduced in interstate commerce and paid a $1,000 fine. Jaymie Lenz and Jovan Sanita Smith, who were indicted along with the doctor, did the same.

Andrew Scott Martin won’t so easily get out from under.

After earning his medical degree from Howard University in 1995, Martin served as Naval chief of orthopedics during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was part of the orthopedic sports medicine team at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

He was licensed in Nevada in April 2005 and opened ASM Ortho at 5546 South Fort Apache Road. According to his website, he “specializes in minimally invasive joint reconstruction and arthroscopic treatment of sports related injuries.”

Martin was suspended from practicing medicine for two months after his arrest, according to the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners, and he must meet stringent guidelines for two years if he wants to continue working as a doctor.

He enrolled in an in-patient treatment program at the Betty Ford Center in California and was discharged in November with the recommendation that he enroll in a medical professionals monitoring program and intensive outpatient treatment.

Under terms set by the state board in December, he was allowed to return to work but must submit to random hair and urine tests, complete 40 hours of community service related to medicine, not violate any state laws, abstain from all mood-altering or addictive substances unless otherwise prescribed by a treating physician or dentist, attend at least three 12-step meetings each week for 90 days, work with a 12-step sponsor to support his sobriety and attend a Caduceus meeting — Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for health professionals — at least twice a month.

Should he violate any of the terms he faces immediate suspension, and the board would move to revoke his license.

Attempts to reach Martin by phone were unsuccessful, and his lawyer, Peter James Christiansen, declined comment.

GOING UNDERCOVER

A Metro organized crime bureau detective recently told a grand jury that a confidential informant years ago told police about the “adult-type parties” rife with all kinds of narcotics.

“But infiltration into this group proved difficult,” Detective Warren Gray testified. In late 2013, police learned the parties were still happening, still with “plenty of drugs” involved, and decided to try again.

Police quickly created a covert account for an unidentified adult website and snagged an invite to a “Frost and Furs” party at Martin’s Henderson home.

The undercover cops, who would follow the doctor for months, played along with the winter theme of the event, dressing in furs, and attended as a couple.

“Dr. Scott, he was very friendly with us,” Cynthia Hurtado, one of the undercover officers, told the grand jury. “It was a swingers lifestyle party, which means people, couples had intercourse with each other. We portrayed ourselves that we didn’t participate in any of that. We were just wondering what it was all about.”

At one point, the doctor became aggressive with Hurtado and tried to rub against her and kiss her.

“I had to avoid all those situations,” Hurtado testified. “Therefore, we had to leave the party once it started getting physical.”

A woman at the party offered one of the undercover cops Molly, a colloquial term for the drug MDMA, or ecstasy, a popular drug at all-night dance parties.

“It lowers your inhibitions, so that’s why people take them,” Hurtado said. “They want to get sexual and stuff like that.”

Martin took a liking to the incognito cops. He invited them to a party at the Trump in January 2014. The password he gave them was “Fidelio” — the title of a Ludwig van Beethoven opera also known as “Leonore, or The Triumph of Married Love.”

The theme of the event was “Eyes Wide Shut,” after the 1999 film in which a man played by actor Tom Cruise “pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous nightlong odyssey of sexual and moral discovery,” according to the Internet Movie Database. As in the movie, guests at the Trump sex party were encouraged to wear masks, and little else.

Martin greeted the cops at the door, and again offered Molly, according to grand jury testimony.

Hurtado told him she needed something to loosen up.

“I will get you loose once I have sex with you later,” the doctor told her.

She instead handed the capsule to her undercover partner.

At a “Neon Kitties” party in April, police brought another undercover female officer. As many as 100 people, including Robert Ruffin, Lenz and Smith, attended the sexy soiree that featured florescent body paint for the black lights.

Ruffin reportedly laid out four lines of cocaine on the kitchen counter, and he, Lenz and Smith each snorted a line.

As they walked away, undercover cop Noel Roberts scooped the leftover cocaine — evidence — into a napkin and put it in his pocket. Ruffin now faces charges of giving away a controlled substance and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

When the undercover cops asked for Molly, Ruffin called for Martin, who ran up to his bedroom and returned to offer Hurtado the drug, again through a kiss. She resisted.

SETTING THE TRAP

A few months later, Martin met undercover officers at the Book & Stage sports bar at the Cosmopolitan and told them about a bash that was destined to be canceled.

“He said that it’s basically good-looking people that have sexual intercourse with each other and that everybody is very friendly,” Hurtado said.

In September, a swarm of police were at Martin’s front door before the party guests arrived. Detective Gray knocked. The doctor came to the door. The police swarmed in.

In a DJ booth on the first floor of the doctor’s house, police found more than an ounce of marijuana. That was just the start.

They also found 86.6 grams of psychedelic mushrooms, 17.7 grams of Ethylone, another psychedelic, cocaine, more MDMA, 65.616 grams of Tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, and steroids.

In October, police executed a search warrant at the southwest valley home of Shannon Grammer, also known as Shannon Gale Dutcher, who had offered police Molly at the “Neon Kitties” party.

They found 332.49 grams of Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate, the sedative known as GHB, 5.84 grams of meth­amphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, and 43.671 grams of Tetrahydrocanibinol. They also found a handgun registered to her and another pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun that were claimed by a friend.

Grammer told police she had been addicted to meth for 10 years. She was charged with three counts of trafficking, two counts of possession and three counts of ownership or possession of a firearm by a prohibited person (in light of simultaneous drug possession).

Police also found meth on Christopher Sbraccia, who also was at the house at the time. He faces charges of possession of a controlled substance and the same charge of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

Another woman who attended the doctor’s parties, Jennifer Coppola, also known as Jennifer Rosemarie Walt, faces two counts of sale of a controlled substance.

Along with the doctor and Ruffin, they all await a November trial date.

Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker