By Jeremy Rogalski / 11 News Defenders
HOUSTON -- Walk into the Austin offices of the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners, and the motto on the wall sounds reassuring: “Safeguarding the Dental Health of Texans.”
But in Texas, a dentist can write himself prescriptions for narcotics, plead guilty to felony drug charges and not be disciplined by those entrusted with protecting the public.
Such is the case for Dr. Russell R. Boone, who practices in Friendswood, and who used his officer manager’s identity and insurance to commit fraud.
“It made me look like I was a drug addict,” said Becky Murphy, who worked for Dr. Boone for seven years.
Murphy said without her knowledge, prescriptions for the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone were showing up on her husband’s company’s insurance. Insurance records show from July 2007 and May 2008, more than 1,000 pills were prescribed on her account.
“Well I knew right off the bat it was fraud,” Murphy said.
But what she didn’t know at the time was who was behind that alleged fraud.
“I don’t even know how to put it into words because it was, it was so, it was such a shock,” Murphy said. “Dr. Boone had broken every rule in the book.”
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