Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408260048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
McKibbin, a former Roanoke probation officer, was indicted by a Franklin County grand jury in December on eight counts of illegally obtaining prescription drugs.
The case is different because it does not involve the use of a false identification or forgery to obtain the drugs, said Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood.
Jim Swanson, McKibbin's attorney, recently filed a request for dismissal of the charges. He feels the case does not fall under the state statute on which the indictments were based.
The section of the code Swanson included in the dismissal request says "concealment of a material fact" must be present for someone to illegally obtain prescription drugs.
Hapgood and Swanson agree on the main issue in the case: McKibbin's failure to disclose information about her prescription drug history to doctors.
After receiving a prescription from a physician, McKibbin went to another doctor and was granted more of the same drug before the initial prescription ran out, Swanson said.
"There is no evidence that doctor B asked her any questions about other prescriptions from doctor A," he said. "There's no overt fraud here. Is it a crime not to have told the doctor?"
Hapgood, however, feels the case should go to trial. He's filed a response to Swanson's dismissal request saying just that.
Swanson said McKibbin was taking the drugs Xanax, a tranquilizer, and Lortab, a pain-killer, for medical problems that included surgery.
McKibbin has been employed with the Probation and Parole Department in Roanoke since 1981. She was placed on leave by the department in December.
The director of the department, John Rauck, said McKibbin was allowed to exhaust her accrued leave benefits and now is on unpaid leave.
Reached Thursday at her Franklin County home, McKibbin said she would reserve comment on the case until conferring with Swanson.
A decision on the dismissal will be made by Danville Circuit Judge James Ingram, who took over the case after the death of Franklin County Circuit Judge Robert Vines earlier this year.
by CNB