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A local physician pleaded guilty and was sentenced Wednesday in Kosciusko Superior Court I for obtaining prescription medications under false pretenses.
Dr. Timothy F. Cook, 43, of 1422 N. Shagbark Drive, Warsaw, was brought into court on a summons for a Class D felony offense of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation. However, Judge Duane Huffer opted to enter the conviction as a Class A misdemeanor.
Everything involved in the case, including the filing of the paperwork, the initial hearing, the guilty plea and the sentencing, took place on the same day. Joe A. Rowe. of Albion, was the special prosecutor in the case presented by Detective Carol Snyder of the Indiana State Police.
Cook is a physician with Warsaw Women's Center on Provident Drive.
According to court documents, Cook was obtaining multiple prescriptions for Hydrocodone, which is a generic form of Vicodin (a narcotic drug), from seven Warsaw pharmacies. The prescriptions were called in by Dr. Cook for his wife, Kathy Cook, and the pharmacists all told Snyder that Cook picked up the prescriptions in person. He sometimes said his wife was suffering from migraine headaches. He also said he was using the drug as an anti-diarrhea medication to help correct side effects of a bowel surgery he underwent two years prior.
The misuse occurred between January 1999 and July 2000, according to the affidavit of probable cause. The motive for Cook's actions is noted on the police report as addiction. He was to have reported to the Indiana Impaired Physician's Program for treatment on Aug. 2, 2000.
The investigation began in July 24, 2000, when a pharmacist at Wal-Mart in Warsaw contacted authorities after discovering that Dr. Cook was filling the prescriptions at several pharmacies. Printouts of the prescriptions were obtained from the seven pharmacies and indicated, according to court documents, "that Dr. Cook was obtaining approximately 35 Hydrocodone per month from six pharmacies in Warsaw. This would be approximately eight tablets per day."
Dr. Cook's sentence consists of a one-year jail term that was suspended for probation, during which he must submit to weekly urine testing and remain in compliance with his treatment program, allowing full disclosure of his treatment to the Kosciusko County Probation Department. Also, he must pay a $100 fine, $129 in court costs and a $50 initial and $20 monthly probation user's fee.
