Dentist used job to supply girlfriend drugs, Maryland cops say. He faces murder charge

A Maryland dentist has been arrested on a charge of second-degree murder after a former patient turned live-in girlfriend fatally overdosed at his home in January, according to police.

Dr. James Ryan, 48, an oral surgeon with a practice in Germantown, is accused of using his position to obtain a variety of powerful drugs for 25-year-old Sarah Harris, contributing to her death.

He also used his medical knowledge to, on at least some occasions, administer the drugs himself, Montgomery County Police Department Chief Marcus Jones said, during a news conference on March 22 following Ryan’s arrest.

Ryan also advised Harris on techniques to make the effects of the drugs “more potent,” Jones said.

According to investigators, Harris first met Ryan in the fall of 2020, visiting his office as a patient. But a short time later, in October, Ryan hired her as a surgical technician.

While working at Ryan’s office, the two started a “romantic relationship” in January 2021, and she soon moved into Ryan’s home in Clarksburg.

Harris’ family began noticing a decline in her health, visibly so, Jones said. This worsened around the time she and Ryan began living under the same roof.

Then on Jan. 26 of this year, Montgomery County police responded to a call at Ryan’s home. Inside, they found Harris dead of an overdose, Jones said, but that’s not all.

There were syringes, tourniquets and bloody clothes around where she laid. Throughout the house, bottles of propofol, ketamine, diazepam, and midazolam, according to investigators.

Ryan would be arrested nearly two months later, on March 22, following an “extensive investigation” by Montgomery County police and the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network.

Investigators uncovered text messages between Harris and Ryan, some of which were very straightforward, Jones said. Harris often asked Ryan to bring her different drugs, and he would respond in the affirmative, Jones said, or tell her where to look in the house to find more of a given substance.

At least once, Ryan administered ketamine to Harris while she slept, officials said.

It’s unclear if Ryan used any of the drugs himself, Jones said.

“He might have been distributing to other individuals,” Jones said. “We have not taken that off the table as a possibility.”

Ryan was taken into custody on 10 charges, the most serious of which is second-degree murder, said John McCarthy, state’s attorney for Montgomery County. He could face up to 78 years behind bars if found guilty on all charges.

This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 4:44 PM with the headline "Dentist used job to supply girlfriend drugs, Maryland cops say. He faces murder charge."