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BLUEFIELD — A single prescription could cost a Princeton podiatrist up to five years in prison and $250,000.
Dr. Robert Knox, 47, of Princeton, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Tuesday to one count of illegally distributing hydrocodone to a Green Valley tattoo artist working undercover.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Miller Bushong III outlined the April 29, 2005 incident that led the physician that once maintained offices at 401 Rogers St. in Princeton and in Southwest Virginia to admit a felony.
It all started with a phone call from Mike White, who operated the Dragon’s Den tattoo parlor and been acting as an informant and cooperating individual for the Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force.
Although the doctor had examined White for a lacerated ear in September 2004, Bushong said he never saw Mike White that day. In fact, Bushong said the doctor-patient relationship never extended past the initial 2004 visit.
Still Bushong said Knox ended the conversation with White and either phoned CVS pharmacy or assigned his staffers to order a 30-pill prescription for the schedule III controlled substance, a painkiller popular among recreational users.
“This doctor had not seen Mike White,” Bushong said. “He simply called in the prescription at Mike White’s request.”
When investigators questioned Knox concerning the incident, the government attorney said the doctor attempted a cover-up, first telling authorities he had seen White April 29 and found a need for the medication. Confronted with the lie, Bushong said he then admitted he had not examined White.
Speaking for himself, Knox said his fault rested in poor documentation rather than a deliberate intent to distribute drugs.
“I didn’t keep accurate enough records on Mike White,” Knox told Judge David A. Faber. “I should have examined him again.”
Rather than taking chances with a federal grand jury and trial proceedings, Knox waived his right to indictment by agreeing to a formal court charge called an “information” and pleading to the offense.
Knox stood composed before Judge David Faber, as he handed down a $10,000 unsecured bond, allowing Knox to remain free until his April 6 sentencing date.
White died less than a month after the incident that led to Knox’s charge.
An unidentified gunman fired a fatal shot in the parking lot of the Dragon’s Den May 19, just off of U.S. 460. Although authorities have reviewed evidence and presented witnesses before a federal grand jury, no one has been charged with the homicide that killed “Tattoo Mike.”
Well-known and well-connected in both the legal and drug communities, White had been secretly collecting evidence for drug investigators for more than a year when he died. As a result of the surveillance he secured, Maurice and Tonya Gibson, Christina “Tina” Arnoto, Robert “Boo Boo” Gravely and Hector “Chico” Reinat were all charged with a variety of drug distribution, conspiracy and money laundering offenses.
Tonya Gibson, Arnoto and Gravely have already pleaded guilty in exchange for more lenient sentences and their cooperation.
How, or if, any of the other defendants were involved in the Knox prescription was unclear this week, but Bushong said Arnoto was unwittingly involved in the operation.
Robert Knox, a podiatrist in West Virginia with offices in Southwest Virginia, was convicted last year of the unauthorized distribution of hydrocodone, a felony.
According to an article in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Knox illegally distributed the hydrocodone in early 2006 to Mike White, a tattoo artist working undercover. Knox first lied, saying that he had seen the undercover informant and had reason for the prescription, when he had not. Knox had treated White a few years prior for a lacerated ear, but had not seen him since. Knox was sentenced to probation for three years and had to pay a $5,000 fine, according to the consent order.
Mike White owned a tattoo parlor and acted as an informant for Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force.
But get this. White was gunned downed less than a month after the incident that led to Knox’s charge.
The article reads: “Well-known and well-connected in both the legal and drug communities, White had been secretly collecting evidence for drug investigators for more than a year when he died. As a result of the surveillance he secured, Maurice and Tonya Gibson, Christina “Tina” Arnoto, Robert “Boo Boo” Gravely and Hector “Chico” Reinat were all charged with a variety of drug distribution, conspiracy and money laundering offenses.”
On July 11, about two months after his conviction, the West Virginia Board of Medicine revoked Knox’s license to practice podiatry in West Virginia.
There was also a $100,000 malpractice settlement against Knox filed in Aug. ‘01. In seventeen years,there have been 108 malpractice suits against podiatrists in Virginia, according to the National Practitioner Data bank.
Knox promised the Virginia board that if his license was reinstated he would not telephone in prescriptions for patients and he would provide patient care only in his office, except for house calls for invalid patients.
Knox’s Virginia license was reinstated in late June. He has to enroll in some continuing education classes and is on probation.
I’m not making any allegations here. It’s just unclear to me how a doctor’s license can be suspended in one state and reinstated in another. What does this say about the uniformity of health professional expectations?
Podiatrist guilty of illegal drug distribution
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