Police: Professor forged prescriptions

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WILMINGTON — A local professor will appear in court on three drug-related charges.

Larry Howard, a professor of athletic training at Wilmington College, has been charged with one count of alleged illegal possession of drug documents (a fifth-degree felony), and with two counts of alleged deception to obtain dangerous drugs (one count a felony of the third degree, and the other count a felony of the fifth degree).

Howard faces the charges after an incident that occurred last December in Xenia, where he resides, police said.

According to the Xenia Police Divison report, on Dec. 22, 2016, an officer responded to a Walgreens on West Main Street in Xenia on a fraud report after an unknown suspect “dropped off a forged prescription.”

The officer spoke with the store’s manager, who advised a relief pharmacist who was working at the store received a prescription for Howard on Dec. 20 from an unknown suspect. The header of the prescription slip was the Wilmington College Student Health Center and a Wilmington physician was named in it.

The pharmacist told the manager that it caught her attention because it was from the Student Health Center and written for Howard, who is 52 years old. The manager contacted the Health Center and spoke with the listed physician who advised the prescription wasn’t good, and was written on a stolen prescription pad. The forged prescription was taken as evidence.

Wilmington College has released a statement saying Howard is currently on administrative leave with pay “per protocol noted in the College’s faculty handbook.”

“This matter is currently an active, internal personnel issue so the college has no formal statement at this time,” said WC President Jim Reynolds.

Mark Babb, Howard’s attorney, did not wish to comment at this time.

Howard has a hearing scheduled in Clinton County Common Pleas Court on Oct. 30. A purpose of the hearing is to address a motion for “intervention in lieu of conviction.”

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By The News Journal

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