ST PETERSBURG, Fla. — The ABC Action News I-Team has uncovered the record of a local plastic surgeon who has been arrested twice since 2020 for methamphetamine possession.
Dr. William Wright Adams’ first felony criminal case was dropped.
He’s now awaiting trial on his second crystal meth possession case.
Crystal meth seized from backpack while patient awaits anesthesia
“Can you step out of the car for me?” an officer is heard saying on the body cam video we obtained through an open records request from the St. Petersburg Police Department.
Officers pulled over Adams’ Chevy Suburban as he was driving to work on the morning of May 24, 2022.
“I'm supposed to be operating right now,” Dr. Adams told the officer. “I’m a plastic surgeon.”
While officers were searching his SUV, Adams said a patient was waiting at his office to undergo plastic surgery.
“They’re putting someone to sleep right now for me to operate on. So I have to call them if I can’t be there,” Adams said. “They’re all waiting for me now.”
Officers called his office to inform his staff of his arrest and to arrange for someone to pick up his vehicle.
The initial traffic stop was so police could question him in connection with a 2021 burglary case.
Watch bodycam video of the arrest of Dr. Adams:
According to the police report, a co-defendant in the case told police “Adams hired him” to burglarize an ex-boyfriend’s home.
The report said a security camera captured Adams’ vehicle, and neighbors spotted a man “wearing teal scrubs” near the victims’ house.
During the stop, police found a glass pipe inside a leather backpack and a packet the police report says contained three grams of crystal meth.
Adams was charged with possession of methamphetamine and residential burglary.
He pleaded not guilty, but 17 months later, Adams has yet to stand trial on the charges.
A trial is scheduled to begin on December 6.
At a hearing in July, Adams’ attorney told the judge they were close to having the case worked out.
We observed patients and staff at Dr. Adams’ office, and when we recently called and asked to speak with him, we were told he was busy with patients.
The Florida Department of Health’s license verification website shows Adams’ license is clear and active with no record of complaints or discipline.
Previous crystal meth case thrown out by prosecutor
The 2022 case wasn’t Adams’ first methamphetamine arrest.
A 2020 police report said sheriff’s deputies seized this package of crystal meth from Adams’ backpack while he was going through security at the Pinellas County Justice Center.
Adams pleaded “not guilty” to the possession charge in June 2020, and the prosecutor dropped the case that October.
Adams was attending a hearing after his ex-boyfriend sought a restraining order, claiming in a court document that Adams sent him a message saying, “if you value your life, I wouldn’t do that,” in response to a threat “to report him to the medical board because he smokes meth.”
Adams’ ex dropped the case.
“They were yelling all night. Breaking stuff,” said Frankie Styles, describing what she witnessed at Adams’ home in late 2021.
Styles said she and Adams had been friends for years.
When she had nowhere to live, Styles said Adams allowed her to stay in a camper in the driveway of his $1.35 million home in St. Pete Beach, but that friendship didn’t last.
More than 40 calls to 911 in two years
“The police all know him, and it’s just like another random stop,” she said, describing the activity at the home.
The I-Team obtained a report of incidents at Dr. Adams’ home from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
It showed deputies responded to 911 calls to the residence more than 40 times during a two-year period.
One call involved deputies serving a narcotics arrest warrant on Adams’ then house-guest, who a report said had crystal meth in his pocket at the time of his arrest.
Other reports involved what deputies referred to as a “turbulent domestic relationship” between the two.
On May 14, 2021, Adams’ house guest went missing after threatening to stab himself with decorative fencing pulled from a flower bed.
He was later found safe nearby.
Three months later, a report said the two got into a verbal argument that escalated to the point that Adams’ house guest grabbed an electric chainsaw.
Florida Board of Medicine hasn’t imposed discipline
Styles, a former patient, said she contacted the Florida Board of Medicine, reported his drug arrests, and shared videos with an investigator.
“I sent him everything that I had,” she said.
Styles says she also started a Facebook page with videos from Adams’ home and his arrest records.
We called the medical board investigator, who confirmed that he had spoken to her and that there was an investigation.
But he wouldn’t comment further and referred us to a spokesperson.
We contacted the Florida Board of Medicine’s spokesperson Brad Dalton multiple times and emailed Dr. Adam’s arrest records to him and the media department at the Florida Department of Health, but we didn’t receive any response.
Dr. Adams, through his attorney Kevin Hayslett, declined an interview and did not comment.
After we inquired about the cases, Adams posted on Instagram that he plans to retire from his practice, effective December 1.
If you have a story you think the I-Team should investigate, email us at adam@abcactionnews.com.
