West Virginia Republican Executive Committee Chairman Doug McKinney is causing more controversy, this time in regards to a member of the Executive Committee currently under investigation for prescription fraud.
According to the Associated Press, Dr. Diane Shafer – a member of the West Virginia Republican State Executive Committee since 2006 – is facing a number of prescription fraud-related charges in relation to her Williamson clinic. FBI agents over the last few months have seized hundreds of thousands of dollars, pre-written prescription pads, and netted over $1.36 million in criminal activities. Shafer also has had controversial dealing with medical licensing boards in both W.Va. and Kentucky.
From a press release from US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia concerning Lisa Baisden, an employee of Shafer’s who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obtain controlled substances by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge:
“From at least 2004 to 2009, Baisden worked for Dr. Diane Shafer in Williamson, WV. In 2009, Baisden provided several individuals with prescriptions which had been pre-signed by Dr. Shafer. Baisden would remove pre-signed prescriptions from patients charts and give them to individuals in return for a portion of the pills for her own use.”
