By SUSAN TEBBEN
GLASGOW — A former paramedic and law enforcement officer for numerous state and local agencies was indicted on 10 felony and 12 misdemeanor forgery counts by a Barren County grand jury on Jan. 27.
Roy J. Howard, 39, 2435 Pleasant Road, Glasgow, was charged for each victim in the cases as opposed to the original 295 counts on each of three class D felony offenses that he was originally accused of, according to Commonwealth Attorney Karen Davis. Davis said it would be easier for the grand jury to make a decision on fewer counts.
“The defense would probably have argued that it was overcharging to charge him with all of those counts, so I decided to just do it this way, it just didn’t make sense to go to the jury the other way,” Davis said.
The felony charges Howard faces are criminal possession of a forged prescription and the misdemeanors are third-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. No proof for a trafficking charge has been found, Davis said.
Howard was arrested in Nashville on May 1, 2009, on a felony fugitive from justice warrant issued by Kentucky law enforcement officials. He was held in the Davidson County Correctional System on $100,000 bond before being moved to the Barren County Correction Center where his bond was reduced to $20,000.
The indictment states that the grand jury charges stem from crimes that occurred between September 2008 and April 2009. Howard allegedly forged signatures of doctors at T.J. Samson Community Hospital and employees of the Barren-Metcalfe Emergency Medical Services while he worked there, to illegaly obtain large quantities of Schedule I and II prescription narcotics, specifically morphine, illegally at the hospital.
According to Glasgow Police Department detective Eddie Lindsey, Howard claimed he was restocking the ambulances with the unspecified amount of morphine after taking it from the pharmacy.
There was a delay in Howard’s indictment because the file was sent to federal prosecutors for examination. As soon as the case was returned to Davis, she went forward with grand jury proceedings.
Howard was a former law enforcement officer with the Kentucky State Police, Park City Police Department and the Glasgow Police Department. He resigned from the GPD in 2006. He was also the city clerk and city administrator for Park City. He was suspended without pay from the EMS following his May arrest and eventually terminated, according to Mike Swift, EMS director.
An indictment represents a criminal charge and a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
