Sunday, April 04, 2010
Clinic Raid Leads To Doctor Investigation
WEST VIRGINIA...
Investigators have seized a small fortune from a Mingo County doctor in a case that parallels the March 2nd raid of a Williamson pain clinic, the Mountain Medical Care Center. U.S. District Court papers disclose prosecutors are negotiating a plea deal with Dr. Diane Shafer, whom they suspect of improperly prescribing pills that led to the raid after agents tracked hundreds of people who entered the storefront clinic daily, paid between $150 and $450 cash, and left with pain drug prescriptions. No charges have been filed, and a lawyer for the clinic’s office manager says it treated legitimate patients. It's alleged Shafer’s illegal activities yielded more than $1.36 million last year alone. The emerging federal case against her could end a medical career that has often brought unwelcome headlines in which she repeatedly run afoul of the licensing boards in both West Virginia and Kentucky. She was convicted of bribery in 1993 after secretly marrying and giving $42,500 to the Kentucky official overseeing one of those ethics cases, which was dismissed. Her conviction was later overturned. The court filings and West Virginia Board of Medicine records show she surrendered her license in December, but is still listed as president of Mingo County’s chapter of the state medical association. Investigators pursued at least a dozen search or seizure warrants the day they raided the Williamson clinic. They targeted homes of its two main doctors, William Ryckman and Katherine Hoover, and office manager Myra Miller as well as bank accounts, a safety deposit box and Hoover‘s 2007 BMW convertible. Filings show the FBI searched a Williamson apartment shared by Hoover and Shafer, confiscating nearly $91,000 in cash from Shafer’s bedroom.
Investigators have seized a small fortune from a Mingo County doctor in a case that parallels the March 2nd raid of a Williamson pain clinic, the Mountain Medical Care Center. U.S. District Court papers disclose prosecutors are negotiating a plea deal with Dr. Diane Shafer, whom they suspect of improperly prescribing pills that led to the raid after agents tracked hundreds of people who entered the storefront clinic daily, paid between $150 and $450 cash, and left with pain drug prescriptions. No charges have been filed, and a lawyer for the clinic’s office manager says it treated legitimate patients. It's alleged Shafer’s illegal activities yielded more than $1.36 million last year alone. The emerging federal case against her could end a medical career that has often brought unwelcome headlines in which she repeatedly run afoul of the licensing boards in both West Virginia and Kentucky. She was convicted of bribery in 1993 after secretly marrying and giving $42,500 to the Kentucky official overseeing one of those ethics cases, which was dismissed. Her conviction was later overturned. The court filings and West Virginia Board of Medicine records show she surrendered her license in December, but is still listed as president of Mingo County’s chapter of the state medical association. Investigators pursued at least a dozen search or seizure warrants the day they raided the Williamson clinic. They targeted homes of its two main doctors, William Ryckman and Katherine Hoover, and office manager Myra Miller as well as bank accounts, a safety deposit box and Hoover‘s 2007 BMW convertible. Filings show the FBI searched a Williamson apartment shared by Hoover and Shafer, confiscating nearly $91,000 in cash from Shafer’s bedroom.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 9:05 AM 
