More on the Drug Stealin’ Pharmacist

This is from this week’s Roane County Newspaper.
——————-

Downey denies
pharmacist got
special treatment

By DAVID HEDGES
Publisher – Roane prosecutor Josh Downey says a pharmacist charged with the theft of narcotics did not receive any special treatment.

Jay Starcher was charged, arraigned, entered a plea and was sentenced at the same time, something even Downey admits is unusual.

The 55-year-old Spencer man was charged with petit larceny and embezzlement after a security officer at the Spencer Walmart said a co-worker saw him putting pills in his pocket on May 10. The officer provided State Police with video from a store security camera.

After a count revealed the store was short 103 hydrocodone pills, Cpl. F.L. Hammack said Starcher admitted taking pills from the store.

Starcher and his attorney showed up after magistrate court was closed June 10 for a first appearance on the misdemeanor charges. That will also be his last appearance because the case was finalized at the same time.

Downey agreed to drop the embezzlement charge and Starcher pled guilty to petit larceny. He was fined $100 and ordered to pay court costs and $100 restitution.

Downey agreed it was rare for the wheels of justice to turn so fast.

“It is uncommon for that to happen,” he said this week. “That’s just the way the cards fell.”

Downey became prosecutor in January, but a more experienced attorney agreed it was unusual.

“I’ve never seen it before in my 12 years,” public defender Teresa Monk said. “It’s never happened with any of my clients.”

Magistrate Jason Bennett, who handled the case, also found it odd.

“It was done very quickly,” Bennett said. “I didn’t particularly care for the way it happened.”

Bennett said when Hammack filed the complaint around 2 p.m. that day he asked Bennett if he would be in the office around 4:30. Magistrate court closes at 4 p.m.

“Since I had court that day I knew I would still be in the office doing paperwork, so I said sure,” Bennett said.

He said around 4:30 Starcher, Starcher’s wife and attorney Mort Titus arrived at the office, followed by Hammack a few minutes later.

Downey was already in the office and met with Hammack, then Starcher and Titus, behind closed doors in the jury room.

When they emerged, Downey told Bennett a plea was worked out and he wanted to dismiss the embezzlement charge.

First Starcher had to be arraigned and have bond set, a move Bennett said Downey did not think was necessary.

Bennett said the bond of $12,500 he set came from a schedule he uses for a list of various offenses.

“I have a bond schedule I go by so each person charged with the same crime gets the same bond,” he said. “That way it’s fair across the board.”

With the guilty plea, Downey asked for a $100 fine and $100 in restitution, but no jail.

Bennett said he could have refused the plea agreement, which is something he has not done since he became a magistrate in January.

“I’ve never denied a plea agreement,” he said. “If the prosecutor wants to dismiss a charge, I assume there’s a reason.”

After being arraigned and posting bond and entering a guilty plea to petit larceny, Starcher paid the fine, costs and restitution and the case was over in less than an hour.

While it may be unusual, Bennett said any defendant has the right to enter a plea at their first appearance in court on a charge.

“But not everyone is fortunate enough to have the prosecutor in the office,” he said. “I don’t know if that was by chance or not. That would be a question he would have to answer.”

Downey admitted it was not by chance. “I may have had a preliminary discussion with his attorney,” he said, later adding he thought he had spoken with Titus “a day or two before.”

Monk said she had never known of a case where the prosecutor appeared in magistrate court at the same time someone was arrested.

“I’ve never heard of it,” she said.

Monk said she also was surprised at the outcome of the case.

She said she had a client in a similar situation — a paramedic accused of stealing drugs from the county ambulance service.

She said he was arrested on felony charges that were reduced to misdemeanors only after several months of legal argument.

Her client went to trial and was convicted on two counts. Roane Circuit Judge Tom Evans sentenced him in November to six months in jail and fined him $200.

“I would have thought there would be a harsher penalty for a pharmacist – someone who knew what he was doing,” Monk said.

“That’s even what Judge Evans said at sentencing. He said since he was a paramedic he should have known better,” Monk said.

“This just seemed like a slap on the wrist,” she said.

Downey said he considers several factors when he recommends a sentence, including prior criminal record, whether or not there is a victim and what sanctions a person may face outside the court system.

He said Hammack was in agreement with the plea in this case.

“It was not done this way to give anyone any special treatment,” Downey said. “It was just a way to get it off the docket. I was over there and we took care of it.”
————-
Yea, they took care of it…
While all at the same time agreeing it is “unusual”.

More than unusual, this is a travesty. All I can think of is all those folks less fortunate in the court system whose arrests and convictions DIDN’T “just go that way”.

Double Standards in Drug Prosecutions For the Area

If you keep up on the local news lately regarding the illegal trade in pharmaceuticals, you will see that the police have been mighty busy.

And if you have any knowledge or experience in how the court system usually works for the “common man”, you will know that it can take years to get thru the courts if you pleade not guilty and at least months if you take a plea bargain.

Now, comes the bust of a local PHARMACIST, (and here) one who has been working as a pharmacist in this area for quite some time. This is one of the people who is in a position to aid in STOPPING pharmaceutical abuse. But instead was discovered to be contributing to the problem. This is not a whole lot different than discovering a priest who is molesting children….

He seems to have been “caught” stealing 103 hydrocodone pills. Of course this does not address how many times he may have done this BEFORE being caught, having been a pharmacist for several YEARS…

Word on the street is that each hydrocodone pill can be sold for $5 to$10 a piece. Yet, this individual was only asked to pay restitution to the tune of a hundred dollar bill for all. He was ALLOWED to take a plea agreement the SAME DAY HE WAS CAUGHT! No hanging in the court system for months like the rest of the world.Very handy for him.

BUT, where is the investigation? Are they assuming that he was ONLY stealing pills for his own consumption???? What was he DOING with those pills he was stealing. Are we assuming this is the ONLY time he ever stole any pills????

How in the world was someone who was caught stealing 103 hydrocodone pills, as a pharmacist, only charged with a minor misdemeanor??? $100 fine (plus court cost). While others less fortunate in the black market pill trade spend time in jail, pay thousands in bail and eventual fines, and are forced to attend sketchy NA meetings, this man, being I assume an otherwise “upstanding member of the community” walks away with a slap on the hand, all in one day.

This NEVER HAPPENS in the West Virginia Court System. Period.

This should be  just plain OBVIOUS. To ANYONE.

This man SHOULD have been MADE AN EXAMPLE OF!!! Not let slide and the whole thing swept under the carpet as fast as possible.

————————————–

There seems to be a repeated pattern in these parts, which is to ALLOW certain individuals to continue their nefarious deeds, pretty much unhindered by things like laws and police, while others are targeted and dragged thru a seemingly unending morass of legal red tape. One would assume there is some underlying reason why certain people can be targeted by the police at the drop of a hat based on questionable information, while others go unscathed even with eye witnesses and reliable evidence.

Who actually gains? NOT the taxpayers, for sure. NOT the citizens in general. Not those unfortunate enough to get caught.

The police, once assumed to be the protectors of society, have turned to an agenda which requires turning loose some of the worst offenders in order to follow them, WATCH their moves and allow them to operate for months, and eventually catch up more people in their web. This strategy obviously does nothing to protect the innocent population, but actually allows them to be placed even more in harms way for the sake of, what. Entrapment? A few bucks in the state’s coffers? Another notch on the belt of some overly ambitious cop?

Who benefits?

Random Rant – Just Another Day

Since last post, the Calhoun Underground has gone into “observation mode”. Feet on the ground, hands in the dirt, listening, watching.

Shortly after writing the last post, Roane County saw yet another drug overdose.

The severity and stupidity of this event sent waves of anger and CONSCIENCE thru a community that is small enough that an enormous amount of people knew the victim. This one death had a far greater impact on the general population than any police officer or drug law or threat of jail.

It appears that being told what to do and not do all our lives causes us to reach a point where we cannot think for ourselves. Every manner of rule and law must be created (with threat of jail of course) in order to protect ourselves from BEING HUMAN. But this plan FAILS MISERABLY. Not once in all of this have we ever tried the one experiment that could possibly fix things – The concept of taking personal responsibility for what we do. In other words, you do or don’t do things, not because you might get in trouble with the law, but because you KNOW you’re doing the right things. Because you are actually given the opportunity to make the choices for yourself. What a novel concept.

Bottom line observation: “LAW” should not even enter into the issue of “drug problems”. Suppose there were no drug laws having to do with the police and the court system. The people would go hog wild? Maybe for a minute, until a couple more had to die of overdoses. But those deaths, along with the knowledge that it is UP TO YOU to decide whether to do the killing drugs or not, would most likely create an environment more conducive to actual THOUGHT AND REASON  than the current “big brother” environment where we are not allowed to make our own choices. And, the doctors would ultimately have to shoulder much more of the responsibility for what they do and how they do it. And that is AS IT SHOULD BE. But we will never know the outcome of such an experiment, because we cannot be allowed to think for ourselves.

Observation number 2:

We had a double murder in Calhoun County recently, with the police apparently unable to solve the case. It would seem like this incident would be top of the list of things to get done on the State Police bulletin board. That and keeping the public informed. It’s not often a murder hits Calhoun County, where the biggest news is the Mayor slapping some idiot in the Dollar Store, or the cops losing all the evidence… So one would think the police would be more forthcoming with information. But instead we get rumors which, quite frankly, could be interpreted in a less than pleasant light in regards to the investigating individuals.  (see – http://calpattypress.wordpress.com/2009/05/03/danny-nub-marks-flanagan-murder-suspect-named-by-ss-of-central-wv-being-looked-as-well-as-other-criminals-and-cult-members/)

How does this make the police look bad you might ask? If the story about the growing operation as told by trooper STARCHER (red flag anyone?) has any truth to it, and knowing already the type of people we have in the local State Police Barracks, one might wonder if the police themselves might be involved more deeply than anyone guesses. Perhaps this is why they can not find the  “perps”. Should they be looking within ranks? If this is not the case, surely the police should at very least give some type of REAL statement as to the status of their investigation.

Calhoun County deserves to know if there is a murderer among us. We want the police to come clean as to what they know. Was there, in fact, a grow room? Were there any plants or were they missing? Or is this just a far fetched story? Was there a robbery connected and if so what was stolen?

It’s high time for some honesty; all the way ’round. Nobody is interested in a police state. Nobody wants “Big Brother”. Nobody WANTS to die of drug overdoses. People are beginning to see thru the little games the police play. Their entire job demands that they be FALSE. Every action, every statement. It’s ultimately all about gathering revenue for the town/county/state, and all about wasting taxpayers money on wild goose chases while making themselves look important for their job security. And getting a little on the side…

Now, we just want facts. Truth. Reality.

Does anyone know what that is?

Back to the dirt.

More Bad News…

… For the typical West Virginian. Seems our legislators have finally completely lost all their marbles. Yes, the rumor is true about some fool wanting to ban the sale of Barbie dolls in WV! This has become the latest WV joke NATIONALLY. But that’s not what this article is all about.

Oh, this definitely gives insight into the WV legislator mentality, for sure. But there is something much more sinister than Barbie to worry about.

It seems that there is a bill proposed which seeks to drug test anyone who applies for welfare, foodstamps, or unemployment benefits in the state.

Now, there are already several existing remedies for the use of illegal drugs in this state, some of which you may not know anything about, and some you are already familiar with. We already know how effective police officers and the legal system are at treating the serious problems related to drug use and addiction. And we are already quite familiar with the methods used by the medical profession. But that is only the tip of the iceberg.

First of all and most commonly, we have drug testing for those individuals who want to go to work. You don’t test “clean” you are not allowed to have a “real” job.

Relatively recently, it seems that going to the doctors office for a medical condition will also get you drug tested, and if you are discovered to have some illegal or un-prescribed drug in your system, the doctors now have the option to REFUSE treatment of your condition. So, now, you don’t test clean, you are not allowed to have medical treatment.

But that is only the start of the bad news.

There is now a bill before the WV legislators that would seek, ONLY IN WV so far, to drug test all those who would sign up for food stamps, welfare, and unemployment benefits! This will CERTAINLY cure the drug problem!!!!! Right?

Anyone who chooses to do ANY illegal drugs will no longer be allowed to have money or food! So, no medical treatment, no jobs, no money, no food. Yes, that will surely fix everything!

But, does anyone actually have a clue what will REALLY happen if this becomes law? So far, no amount of laws, police, jail, death by overdose, divorce, or anything else has made any impact what-so-ever in stemming the DANGEROUS use of drugs. Let alone the totally UN-dangerous use of marijuana.

So what makes this any different? The difference will be that there will be a huge growth in homeless, moneyless, foodless, jobless drug addicts for starters. These are the folks who NEED the drugs to feel normal and will do anything to get them. The crime rate will go thru the roof from theft AND violent crime will be more common. The already ridiculously full jails will get fuller, and more will have to be built to accomodate.

Many people who are otherwise law abiding citizens at this point will turn to other means of survival including DRUG DEALING to get their money. And some individuals will go underground, thus making it HARDER for “big brother” to keep track of them, tax them, or manipulate them.

In other words, this is not going to stop or even slow down the illegal drug business, just create a new set of  problems for everyone, and create more “criminals” for the legal system to deal with. And with it already taking at least 4 to 5 years to get a case through the court system, look for the time it takes to increase…

If this bill passes, you will be seeing many more homeless on the streets. Even in your small towns. Look for more pan handlers asking for spare change. Look for the community cupboards and any churches offering assistance to be overwhelmed with requests for help. You will need to be much more aware of who comes and goes at your home. You will probably need to place armed guards near your front door and your gardens…

I see only one FAIR thing for the legislators to do if they MUST pass this barbaric and totally un-compassionate law, and that would be: If you are prepared to totally kick  out anyone doing any sort of illegal “drugs”, and remove them from “your” system all together, at that point you should simply allow those people to do their drugs without fear of retaliation! Surely if you are heartless enough to starve out the drug users and cause them to no longer be members of this society, then you should allow them the actual FREEDOM to not be members of this society if they so choose!!!

Illegal Pill Trade Rampant – Beware Calhoun and Roane

A great big heads up to those who think they are somehow “COOL” by being involved in this prescription drug scam. Did you know that MANY big pharmaceutical companies are funded and run by POLITICIANS? Did you know that it is common for doctors to own stock in pharmaceutical companies? Did you know that there is even a “conspiracy theory” in which it would seem that the goal is to get everyone medicated one way or another in order to “control” the masses?

Did you know that a lot of the more recent prescription meds being handed out are still experimental? That is, they really DON’T know what the long term effects might be. So, have you given up and simply don’t care? Do you even give a damn that you might be trading in something that could harm or kill someone? Do you give a damn that you are supporting the very things that cause you so many problems in life that you wish to be ANESTHETIZED rather than face it?

Do you give a rats ass that you are in effect SUPPORTING the police in this state by continuing to play this stupid pill game? And do you care AT ALL that you are bringing HEAT on those who you associate with simply by being involved in the pill trade and then associating with others who may not wish to be involved?

There used to be a time when even the “heads” did not use pills! Those awful folks known as HIPPIES already knew, many, many years ago, that pills and white powders were NOT acceptable. Those were things that only lowlifes and bums did. In those circles it was something that was simply NOT DONE. Believe it or not, there are STILL many people who feel the same way. Because it is no different now, just more prevalent.

I am here to say that no one here at the Underground supports this rampant pill trade, either illegal OR legal! It is sickening to say the least, and the sentiment is so strong in this neighborhood that should any visitors here be found for certain to be involved in some kind of illegal pill trade, they will be ASKED TO LEAVE.

Having said that, read and weep:

Indictments sign of problem with prescription drugs By DAVID HEDGES Publisher – More than a fourth of the indictments returned by a Roane grand jury last week involved the alleged sale or use of prescription drugs. Six Spencer residents were charged with felony offenses ranging from selling drugs they had legally obtained by prescription to “doctor shopping,” or visiting different physicians to obtain prescriptions.

“It’s the biggest drug problem we have in Roane County, and we haven’t even scratched the surface,” Cpl. F.L. Hammack of the State Police detachment in Spencer, who presented the prescription drug cases to the grand jury, said. Hammack said the problem starts and ends at the same place — in the doctor’s office. “Some doctors in Roane County are really working hard to make a difference,” he said. “But others are just turning their head.”

Prescription painkillers such as oxycodone account for most fatal overdoses in West Virginia, according to a government study. About two-thirds of those who die from overdoses in the state don’t have a prescription, a figure that leads the nation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drug overdoses are now the second-leading cause of unintended deaths in the U.S. behind auto accidents. The problem is worse in rural areas.

The CDC has studied drug abuse in West Virginia and found that overdose rates have risen 550 percent in a five-year period. Of the nearly 300 people who died from overdoses in 2006, 63 percent used drugs. “Doctors who write these prescriptions might as well be loading a gun,” Hammack said. Every licensed doctor and pharmacist in West Virginia has access to information about the prescriptions their patients are receiving, according to Hammack.

Police officers must be certified to have access to that information. Other officers, including Hammack, work with those officers to investigate prescription cases. But he said the best answer is to prevent the drugs from being abused in the first place. “It’s just something we’ll have to work on until people get the message,” he said.

Those indicted last week on prescription drug cases were: ν Mary Carpenter, 44, of Reservoir St. for possession with intent to deliver and delivery of oxycodone and hydrocodone. An informant allegedly purchased the pills at her home in 2004 and 2007. ν Christina Carpenter, 34, of Arnoldsburg Road for delivery of mood altering drugs Ativan and Seroquel, possession with intent to deliver and two counts of obtaining controlled substance by fraud. Police allege she obtained prescriptions from two doctors and sold to an informant. ν Kevin Schroeder, 47, of State Street for delivery of oxycodone and possession with intent to deliver. Police allege an informant purchased the pain reliever from Schroeder at his home in June. ν Herbert Cobb, 49, and Robin Zayed, 47, both of High Street for two counts each of delivery of hydrocodone, possession with intent to deliver and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and six counts of conspiracy. The charges allege an informant purchased the drug from the couple in June. ν Summer Black, 30, of General Woods Drive for eight counts each of obtaining a controlled substance by fraudulent pretenses and obtaining additional controlled substances from a practitioner, also known as doctor shopping. The charges allege she obtained prescriptions for pain relievers from several different physicians and a dentist. An indictment by a grand jury is not a determination of guilt, only a finding that jurors felt there was enough evidence to allow the cases to come to trial.

Hammack said the recent indictments might just be the start. “Everyone on the detachment is working an active prescription drug case right now,” he said. “There will be more arrests and more indictments.”

—————————————————————————–

Now, just to be real here, let me say that the pill problem is just going to keep on going as long as it’s legal for doctors and politicians to be involved, as long as people are willing to lie and cheat, and as long as the doctors make them available. But the police can do absolutely nothing, simply because they are the police, and there is scant respect for police around here. Especially from anyone who might be construed in some way to be “breaking the law”. They can arrest people all day long and scare a few and talk a few into being rats, but they can’t stop people from the DOING of it. Just the opposite actually. Just spend enough time being messed with by the cops and you are sure to want to do SOMETHING just to spite them…

So. I think it’s high time for people’s actual PEERS to stand up to them and say enough is enough. Not some preacher, or right-wing-goody-two-shoes granny in high heals and a business suit, but those folks who people just might actually look UP to, within their own “culture”. Those are the people that MIGHT get listened to and MIGHT be able to effect some real positive change. There’s much to be said for “shunning” (google it) and maybe it’s high time that more of us REAL folks start standing up to this nonsense once and for all.

Don’t wait for the cops to fix the problem, get involved yourself.