DRUG ABUSER GIVEN INTERVENTION IN LIEU OF PROSECUTION

EVEN THOUGH SHE HAS BEEN THROUGH REHAB BEFORE

Melissa Gail Loper Jenkins, 34 years of age and a former employee of Dr. David Hanzel of New Boston, Ohio, was indicted by the Scioto County Grand Jury in December of 2002 on 7 felony criminal charges. Jenkins was indicted on one count of theft, one count of forgery and 5 counts of illegal processing of drug documents.

Jenkins used her position at Dr. Hanzel’s office to call in illegal prescriptions to local pharmacies using her own name and the names of a cousin and her husband. Records obtained by the Sentinel indicate that Jenkins fraudulently obtained over 50 illegal prescriptions for the following medications; xanax, atapex, loratabs, and loracets. It is unclear why local prosecutors indicted Jenkins on only 5 of the more than 50 illegal prescriptions she called into local pharmacies.

Sources at a local drug rehabilitation center stated to a Sentinel reporter that Jenkins voluntarily entered a rehabilitation program months before this recent relapse. With this knowledge it is unclear why Jenkins was allowed to enter a rehabilitation program for a second time. There are reports that indicate that Jenkins also suffered from an alcohol problem while living in the state of Kentucky and was sent to an alcohol treatment program in that state.

Information obtained by the Sentinel indicates that Jenkins was using the name of a registered nurse that worked for Dr. Hanzel in order to get prescriptions filled. Friends of this registered nurse have stated to the Sentinel that the local prosecutors did not contact this registered nurse to discuss the possibility of having charges filed against Jenkins for impersonating her, and or illegally using her medical licensure to illegally obtain medications not prescribed by Dr. Hanzel.

There is one unconfirmed report obtained by the Sentinel that Jenkins overdosed while on the job at Dr. Hanzel’s office.

While the Sentinel commends Judge William Marshall’s "intervention in lieu of jail" for first time drug offenders, it appears that the Judge may have been duped in this instant case. Jenkins appears to be a habitual drug abuser and drug intervention apparently doesn’t work. The Jenkins case was a "leftover case" from former Judge Walter Lytten that was dropped on the lap of Judge Marshall. Many people close to this case believe that Judge Marshall was attempting to catch up over 100 cases left on the docket by his predecessor and may not have had time to thoroughly check Jenkins background before allowing her to enter the drug treatment program. None of the victims in this case blame Judge Marshall for allowing Jenkins to obtain drug treatment but they want Judge Marshall to know about Jenkins checkered legal past.

The victims in this case hope and pray that when Jenkins is brought back before Judge Marshall for her final sentencing that Judge Marshall inquire about Jenkins past drug history and sentence her on this new information.

We will keep our readers posted as this case moves forward.

EMPLOYEES OF DR. STEVEN CRAWFORD CONFIRM

ILLEGAL ABORTION TOOK PLACE IN HIS OFFICE

The Sentinel has confirmed that Dr. Steven Crawford did perform at least one illegal abortion in his Portsmouth office while he still had his medical license.

Two former employees have confirmed that they were in the office when a patient approached Dr. Crawford about getting an abortion because she was pregnant by a man other than her husband. The patient claimed that her husband had a vasectomy and she needed to terminate the pregnancy immediately before he learned of her affair. The Sentinel will not name the patient or current of prior employees of Crawford at this time but will do so if challenged that this story is false. This story is being written to notify local law enforcement and state medical officials of these new allegations against Dr. Crawford before he is allowed to get his medical license back with the State of Ohio.

According to one employee, Dr. Crawford agreed to have the patient injected with a combination of medicines that would cause the patient to abort the fetus. Dr. Crawford gave a list of the drugs required to one of his nurses to go get and inject into the patient. The patient was told she had to pay in cash. Immediately after the injection the patient provided a large sum of cash to Dr. Crawford but was told that the amount of money was not enough to pay for his services. The patient was told to go get more and bring it back; and did as required. After the patient dropped off the balance due for her abortion procedure, Dr. Crawford told some of his staff, "Lunch is on me".

The Sentinel visited Dr. Crawford’s Office today and found a lady and man working in the office but Dr. Crawford was nowhere to be found. One Sentinel reporter obtained the names of the individuals working and left but immediately called back to Dr. Crawford’s office in an attempt to get a meeting set up with Dr. Crawford to discuss this allegation. During that phone call the lady that answered the phone gave the Sentinel reporter a false name of "Cindy" and refused to give the reporter a telephone number for where Dr. Crawford could be reached.

The Sentinel has six to eight names of employees of Dr. Crawford’s that may have been present the day this abortion took place. The Sentinel has contacted six of these individuals and none have stated that the abortion procedure did not take place. Many seemed very concerned that the Sentinel had this information and begged that their names not be made public but stated that if questioned by local or state authorities they would have to tell the truth. One Crawford employee stated that she did not witness the actual procedure but did confirm that the patient name provided to them by the Sentinel was in Dr. Crawford’s office and that a large sum of cash was given to pay for some type of service on that day.

Dr. Crawford had his medical license pulled last year for drug abuse and is in the process of trying to get his license reinstated. The Sentinel will be passing this new information to the State of Ohio Medical Board for their consideration.