The current mayor of Newkirk, Oklahoma, a small town located near the Kansas-Oklahoma border, is scheduled for a jury trial on March 26 after pleading not guilty to a felony charge of obtaining a controlled substance by concealment of material fact.
Frankie Gene Arnold, 52, appeared in Kay County District Court on Jan. 23 with his attorney Ken Holmes and entered the plea.
Arnold, who is also an instructor at Cowley County College in Arkansas City, Kan. was charged in February of 2011 after an investigation by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
OBN agent Robert Lewis reports in the affidavit that a citizen told agents that Arnold was having packages sent from Direct Pharmacy Service Inc. to Newkirk City Hall.
The agent reports that he looked at the Prescription Monitoring Program and found that Arnold had gone to two different doctors receiving the same medication from both.
Arnold reportedly sought medication from Dr. Phillip J. Knight and Dr. Robert Morgan and that neither doctor knew he was obtaining medication from the other.
The OBN agent submitted evidence to the district attorney’s office that suggested three felonies were committed. However, only one charge was filed.
The affidavit suggests that on March 8, 2010, Arnold picked up a prescription for Hydrocodone 325/10mg No. 100 from a pharmacy in Ponca City and that on March 29 and on April 7, Arnold picked up prescriptions for Hydrocodone 500/7.5mg No. 100 from Rhoads Brothers Pharmacy in Newkirk.
The agent reports that Arnold later admitted that he obtained a prescription from Rhoads Brothers Pharmacy in Newkirk by deceit by not advising the prescribing physician that he was seeing other physicians and obtaining multuple other controlled dangerous substances.
Pre-trial motions in the case are scheduled for March 16.
Earlier this month, Arnold did not file to retain the office of mayor.
A mayoral election is scheduled for March 6.