Charlie was leisurely cruising in his neighborhood when he came across a STOP sign. He slowed the car down a little bit, then rolled across the line without coming to a full stop. Flashing lights and blaring siren from an unmarked car parked fifty feet behind him showed that his indiscretion was going to cost him. That was over three years ago, and he had no idea how costly this simple error would turn out to be.
“License and Registration please,” the cop said through the open window. As he sat waiting in his car for the police officer to return after checking out his papers, he had no fear at all. He knew that he was sure to get a violation ticket, and a fine, but he knew that the damages would be limited because he was driving with an Out-of-State Drivers’ license. He would not amass any penalty points on his License. He was glad that he had given up his New York State Drivers License a few years ago. However, the police officer came back and told him to step out of the car, his hand on the butt of his gun, with his partner covering him from the other side of the car. What? He knew that usually means an arrest. An arrest for failing to stop fully at a STOP sign? What’s going on?
“You are under arrest for driving in the State of New York while your license is suspended,” the cop told him. “That is totally impossible”, he protested. Then the cops gave him the details: he had thirty-five outstanding violations and fines to his name which he had failed to pay, and because of that, the State of New York had suspended his privilege to drive in the State, with any State license. Charlie was completely puzzled because he knew that he had no unpaid outstanding violations.
But as soon as the cops told him the name on the tickets, he knew that he was sunk. His first, last and middle names were on the ticket. Charlie said only a few people in his family knew his middle name, which he seldom used. Charlie said that prior to the hijackers’ attack on the US on 9/11/2001, you could give your name, date of birth, and Social Security Number when pulled over by the cops, instead of a Driver’s License, and the cops would use that for the citation. He knew someone in his family had used his identity, and he knew that it would be difficult for him to escape culpability.
In view of his precarious position, Charlie readily accepted when the DA’s office offered him a plea. He could pay the fines, together with late charges, and accept five years of probation. Otherwise, he should be ready to face trial. With his prior, he could spend one to three years in prison if found guilty. It was a no-brainer. He accepted the guilty plea, together with five years probation.
Charlie was a veteran of the Iraq wars, and after the wars suffered post-traumatic disorder, for which he is taking daily alprazolam. Because of the high price controlled medications like alprazolam commands on the black market, physicians do periodic urine toxicology checks on such patients to ensure that the prescribed medications are in the patient’s system, and not being sold for profit. It was on one of those random checks that my office discovered the metabolites of not only alprazolam but oxycodone in Charlie’s urine. I told the office manager to inform Charlie to find another Doctor to prescribe his alprazolam, because we do not want to prescribe controlled medications to someone abusing drugs. I am Charlie’s Primary Care Physician, and I never prescribed oxycodone to him.
Charlie had been asking to see me personally, and I had declined. Finally, he was able to see me last week, and I felt really sorry for him. Apparently, when I refused to prescribe Alprazolam for him, he went for his periodic meeting with his Probation Officer, who then conducted random urine toxicology on him. He didn’t think anything of it until a few days later when the police tore down his door at dawn and he woke up to find guns pointing at his head from various police officers. He was hurled off to jail for parole violation.
It was in jail that he found out his offense: his urine toxicology came back clean, too clean, without alprazolam metabolite. The record showed that he was on alprazolam for his nerves, and it was a violation of his probation for him not to be compliant with his medications. I now understood why he sent someone to come and get a letter from me certifying that I had refused to prescribe alprazolam for him.
And what about the oxycodone? He was involved in a Motor Vehicle Accident three months prior, and he was seeing a No-Fault Insurance Doctor for that, who prescribed oxycodone for his back pains. He had forgotten to tell me about it to put it in the records. He brought copies of the original prescriptions from the other Doctor. I felt really sorry for him, but Charlie’s story was even worse.
Remember that guilty plea? A few months after Charlie copped that plea, and during one of his probation attendances, he discovered that he was actually in jail many years ago, for another unrelated offense, during one of the very days “he” was issued a driving violation summons. Here was the proof at last that he was being impersonated, and that he was telling the truth all along. He appeared before the Traffic Court Judge and presented the evidence.
The Judge threw out the violations, all thirty-five of them, because of the proof that someone else was using his identity during the period the offense was committed. But his joy was short-lived because he was told that he still had to serve the five-year probation, during which, if he committed any offense, he would be hurled off to prison. Why? Well, since he had pleaded guilty, his probation sentence had become non-appealable after 30 days, and the probation stood. Poor Charlie! How was he to know that a roll at the STOP sign would be the beginning of his woes?
