County passed morphine theft case to KSP

I talked with John Wilson yesterday about the case where Thomas Shelton allegedly stole morphine from the Garrard County ambulance service multiple times. He said as soon as ambulance service Director Colby Arnold told him what was going on he called state police and the county has been leaving the case in their hands since.

Wilson also provided some dates concerning the case. Shelton was suspended on Sept. 14 and terminated Oct. 13. Colby Arnold also informed the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services (KBEMS) about the case immediately after discovering it, Wilson said. A person in the legal office at KBEMS told me yesterday that there was a complaint filed concerning Shelton on Sept. 14 and there’s an ongoing investigation.

Today I’ll be contacting state police and trying to get some more info from them. Watch for another update tomorrow and possibly a story in the paper.

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Garrard’s Old Hospital Debt

Garrard County got a check from KACo last week for around $32,000. Judge-Executive John Wilson explained to the fiscal court on Monday what would be done with the check, and a large portion of it — about $25,000 –  is going to pay off some of the principal on the county’s old hospital debt. I got some interesting statistics from Deputy Judge-Executive James Bushnell about the hospital debt, before and after the county refinanced:

Original loan amount to cover hospital’s debt: $4.5 million

Balance on loan as of Jan. 1, 2007, before the refinancing: $4.05 million

Approximate balance today: $1.95 million

Interest payments before refinancing: about $20,000 per month

Interest payment this month: about $6,000