The Associated Press

SOUTH SHORE, Ky. - Kentucky's illegal prescription drug trade has spawned a new offshoot: the trade of bogus medical records, including MRIs.

Investigators say the emergence of such counterfeit documents shows the problem is becoming more organized and more sophisticated, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

A woman who paid for a phony MRI report, Donna Sue Hurt Webb, said she got it from a man in a parking lot outside a medical clinic in South Shore. She was later arrested for using the report to get prescription drugs.

Webb said her fake report, which came complete with her name, age and Social Security number, was convincing enough that over a six-month period, physicians working at Tri-State Health Clinic prescribed a variety of pain pills for her, from Lorcet to Valium.

An MRI is a kind of X-ray that shows damage to soft tissues. Doctors often use written reports of MRIs, which generally cost about $2,700 at hospitals and clinics, to diagnose and treat back injuries or other infirmities.

The newspaper also pointed to other evidence of the rise in the bogus MRI trade:

Webb, of Johnson County, and Michael S. Slone, 39, of Bevinsville in Floyd County, have been indicted in Greenup County on charges of obtaining prescriptions by fraud, a Class D felony. Both were using bogus MRIs, according to the indictments.

Greenup County Sheriff Keith Cooper said officials at the Tri-State clinic have referred 52 reports of fake MRIs to him.

A Paintsville hospital official said she had received about 20 reports that people were manufacturing MRI reports on the hospital's letterhead.

A week after Webb's July 5 arrest, police arrested Slone on the same charge. A doctor noticed that the MRI reports submitted by both Slone and his mother were identical, except for the names and birthdays, court records said.

Slone confessed his report was based on his mother's MRI report, which also was false, court records said.

Both Slone and Webb were indicted on Sept. 19. Webb is scheduled for trial Feb. 27, but no trial date has been set for Slone, who has not been served with an arrest warrant and is considered a fugitive, court officials said.

Cooper said Tri-State clinic, which opened in 2001 and charges up to $250 for first-time office visits, is under investigation.

But both he and Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Duvall said clinic operators have cooperated with investigators and frequently report suspicious patients.