Doctor admits to drug count
She wrote prescription in fast-food parking lot, deal says
FORT SMITH — A physician in Rogers pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of a controlled substance without an effective prescription, according to the office of David Clay Fowlkes, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Court records state that Dr. Robin Ann Cox, 64, of Greenwood had a change of plea hearing Wednesday.
Cox’s plea agreement states that while she was employed by the Arkansas Medical Clinic in Rogers on May 21, 2019, she and the owner of the clinic contacted the Drug Enforcement Administration by telephone to report that prescriptions from Cox’s previous employment had been fraudulently written and filled. Cox specifically identified a prescription for a patient identified as D.S. that was written on May 19 and filled on May 20, as well as a prescription for someone identified as F.R. dated and filled on May 17.
The Drug Enforcement Administration discovered during the investigation into the prescriptions that Cox had written D.S. a prescription in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant in Fort Smith, according to the agreement.
D.S. said that on May 19, D.S.’s mother drove D.S. to the restaurant, where Cox was waiting in a red SUV. D.S. got out of the vehicle and met with Cox through her driver’s-side window, the agreement says. Cox had prewritten the prescription in D.S.’s name without D.S.’s date of birth, which she wrote on the prescription after requesting that D.S. provide her with that information, the agreement says.
The prescription was for 120 15mg tablets of oxycodone, the agreement states. Video surveillance footage that investigators obtained from the fast-food restaurant and a statement from D.S.’s mother confirm that the transaction between D.S. and Cox took place, and records from the pharmacy at which D.S. filled the prescription confirm that D.S. presented the prescription that Cox wrote to be filled on May 20.
Cox was indicted on the distribution of a controlled substance charge, as well as a charge of making a false statement to a federal agent, on Oct. 4, according to court records. She pleaded innocent to those charges during her arraignment Oct. 23. The federal government agrees to dismiss the second charge without prejudice after sentencing as part of her plea agreement.
The court reserved approval of the plea agreement pending completion of the presentence report, according to the minutes of Wednesday’s change of plea hearing. The sentencing was also deferred pending the presentence investigation, with the innocent plea remaining on the false statement charge. Cox was released on current bond and conditions of release.
Agencies participating in the investigation are the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA Diversion Little Rock, FBI, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the Springdale and Rogers police departments, according to a news release from Fowlkes. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Gardner is prosecuting the case for the federal government.