The Virginia podiatrist who illegally distributed drugs to a narcotics informant just weeks before the informant was gunned down, is tied in another way to a drug ring in West Virginia.
Knox allowed Maurice Gibson, known to be part of a drug ring, to purchase gun silencers in his name. Knox didn’t think Gibson would use them to harm anyone and canceled the order after White was killed.
I enlisted the help of a reporter who has followed the case, here is what she had to say:
“White actually died on May 19, 2005, before any of the convictions. The Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force had been investigating Gibson and his associates for years, hoping to collect enough evidence to send him to prison and track the drug supply. Along the way, White stepped forward and asked to act as an informant, allegedly out of anger that local drug dealers had hooked his son. Investigators ultimately secured a conviction for Gibson, but they claim
they never found concrete proof of where his drugs came from. This timeline may help if you’re working on anything:
April 29, 2005: Knox authorizes a hydrocodone prescription for Mike White, without seeing him as a patient.
May 19, 2005: Mike White is shot to death outside his business, The Dragon’s Den, in Green Valley. Gibson was at the scene, when an as-yet-unidentified shooter and accomplice drive onto the lot, ask to test-drive a car White was selling and shot him in the parking lot.
May 19, 2005: Gibson is arrested that night on an obstruction charge that was later dropped after a federal grand jury indictment was unsealed, holding him on federal drug charges. Four other drug co-defendants were later arrested.
Oct. 6, 2005: A federal information is unsealed, officially implicating Knox in the hydrocodone distribution.
Jan. 3, 2006: Knox pleads guilty to illegally distributing hydrocodone.
Feb. 21, 2006: Knox gets an “attitude adjustment” from Judge David Faber, after allegedly failing to cooperate with his probation officer and bringing contraband into the federal courthouse. He reportedly brought a small tape recorder and something resembling a box cutter into the courthouse. His attorneys testified they were tools of his trade and a simple oversight on the doctor’s part. Faber tightened Knox’s travel controls and advised him to behave better in the future.
May 16, 2006: Knox is sentenced to pay $5,000 and serve three years on probation for the plea. Although the judge acknowledged the serious nature of the drug offense, he cited a long list of community leaders, former patients and loved ones who had submitted letters asking for leniency.
March 2007: Testimony during an evidenciary pre-sentence hearing in Gibson’s case reveals the alleged silencer deal.
Gibson, who was convicted on 15 drug, money laundering and conspiracy charges in March 2006, is currently set for sentencing in mid-October. Although he was never tried for the murders of White or a Bluefield man who died in 2003, investigators allege he hired the hits and orchestrated the crimes. They’ve introduced a wide array of evidence in effort to encourage the harshest sentence possible on the drug charges.”
VADocWatch 