MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (WDVM) — Dr. James Ryan had his first court appearance on Wednesday after police arrested and charged him with second-degree murder related to the death of 25-year-old Sarah Harris.
The judge said Ryan is a flight risk and a danger to the community, so they ordered the 48-year-old oral surgeon to be held without bond. After Sarah Harris’s mother, Tina Harris heard Ryan is facing 78 years behind bars she said “Thank you Jesus for keeping him behind bars” while leaving the courtroom.
According to charging documents, Ryan faces ten charges, including second-degree murder, in connection to the death of Sarah Harris, who overdosed in January. Police say 25-year-old Harris visited Ryan in the fall of 2020 to get her wisdom teeth removed. Ryan then offered her a job as a surgical technician. Then the two began dating in January of last year. Police say that’s when Ryan started bringing home powerful drugs to give to Harris.
“Any individual that is actually going to be the responsible party for distributing these drugs and providing them to individuals and causing their deaths,” said Chief Marcus Jones. “I think we take that pretty seriously, as demonstrated by the arrest of Dr. Ryan.”
According to charging documents, Harris’s sister provided authorities with messages between Ryan and Harris showing Harris asking for different drugs from his practice. The messages also showed Ryan instructing Harris on taking the drugs and making them more powerful. Through the investigation, detectives also learned Ryan gave Harris Ketamine while she was asleep and Harris overdosed once before she died.
“This is not a unique situation totally, sometimes we can’t connect the dots but we’ve been doing this for a number of years,” said State’s Attorney John McCarthy. “We do this dual responder team so that if possible we will try to track it back to the person that is responsible for the distribution and hold them accountable, not only for the distribution but for the death.”
Ryan is expected back in court for a preliminary hearing on April 15 at 8:30 a.m. in the same courtroom.