Former Cop Pleads Guilty to Doctor Shopping for Drugs

Thursday, October 22, 2015 | 0

A former police officer who went doctor shopping for prescription narcotics, pretending he needed them for treatment of an on-the-job injury, pleaded guilty to a fraud charge on Monday, according to a report by the Virginia Beach Pilot.

Under a plea bargain, Harry Kephart Jr. will serve one year of supervised probation and undergo drug treatment and random urinalysis screenings. The 30-year-old former police officer's driver's license will also be suspended for six months.

Kephart resigned from the Virginia Beach Police Department after the charges were filed against him in June. His attorney, Shawn Cline, told the newspaper that his client began abusing prescription drugs when he was treated for an injury, but he is now "clean and sober."

The Pilot reported that last April, Kephart asked doctors at Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, Sentara Bayside Hospital and two Patient First urgent care centers to give him prescriptions for Percocet and Ambien. He told one of the doctors that he had injured his knee while chasing a robber suspect. He told another physician that he injured himself while responding to a burglary alarm.

Two doctors refused to give Kephart prescriptions, but three doctors prescribed him the pills.