ARAFILES CHARGED WITH SAME FELONIES AS THE NURSES HE TARGETED

THIS TIME THE CHARGES ARE VALID

Winkler County Texas has come FULL CIRCLE. Dr. Arafiles has been charged and the sheriff and prosecutor should be next.

From the beginning we called shenanigans on the Winkler County Sheriff and prosecutor. On July 21, 2009, Law Med was prophetic:

“I call shenanigans on the Winkler County DA. Assuming that he is not an incompetent boob, and that he actually went to, and graduated from, law school, the only explanation for his abuse of power is collusion with the physician. It is impossible for his office to have adequately investigated the complaint allegations to allow a good faith conclusion that it was an “attempt to harm” the physician. Impossible since the board is charged with that responsibility under Texas law and they have come to no such conclusion. Impossible since the board was taken by surprise that charges had been filed and are defending the nurses. Fostel is now under a national spotlight after disparaging the professional reputations of these nurses and causing them to be fired from the hospital. And well he should be. It is hard to imagine what his defense will be to charges of prosecutorial misconduct and ethics violations. I wonder if he will take the stand in his civil trial? Will his law license survive unlike Mike Nifong after the Duke Lacrosse bogus rape charges? He made need a few herbal remedies [of Dr. Arafiles] over the next few months.”

For the most in depth coverage of the entire saga of the Nurses of Winkler County ANYWHERE, see our WINKLER COUNTY PAGE.

And NOW:

From the Dec 22, 2010 Odessa American Online:

KERMIT The ongoing saga of the whistle-blowing Winkler County nurses took a turn for the karmic Tuesday with the arrest of Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles on charges of retaliation and misuse of official information. Both are third-degree felonies.

Agents with the Texas Attorney General’s Office presented the arrest warrant to Arafiles in Odessa and he agreed to come come with them to Winkler County where 109th District Judge James Rex magistrated him, office spokesman Thomas Kelley said. Arafiles left the Winkler County Jail on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond and had his passport revoked. (Arafiles is a native of the Philippines).

Arafiles’ arrest results from the criminal investigation of nurses Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle.

They were fired from Winkler County Memorial Hospital and were indicted and arrested by local authorities in 2009 in connection with misuse of official information after they sent an anonymous letter to the Texas Medical Board with examples of 10 patients they believed Arafiles had not properly treated.

Arafiles’ criminal charges come from the Texas Attorney General’s Office. In the arrest warrant affidavit, Arafiles is accused of giving patient information to Winkler County Sheriff Robert Roberts, Arafiles’ friend and also a patient, so that Roberts could investigate the source of the anonymous accusations against him. After determining the patients themselves hadn’t made the complaints, Roberts identified Galle and Mitchell as the whistleblowers, setting into motion all future events that brought national attention to the small community.

But prosecutors dismissed the case against Galle, and Mitchell was acquitted by jury in February. In August, the pair received $750,000 after Winkler County settled a federal civil suit against many of the officials involved.

The affidavit said Arafiles disclosed the information to Roberts to stop what he characterized as harassment against him, but that wouldn’t be considered a proper governmental purpose, especially against certified nurses with a duty to report harmful medical practices. The affidavit also said Arafiles’ inquiries should have been directed to the Texas Medical Board, not a local law-enforcement officer.

Hospital Board member John Walton said he thought the whole matter was through when the civil suit was settled, but the hospital continues to struggle after the resignation of administrator Stan Wiley in October and continues to need another doctor after one that came in left to work in Odessa.

“What it’s done is made people not trust the hospital,” Walton said.

From CBS 7 News:

Beau Berman
CBS 7 News
bberman@cbs7.com
December 22, 2010

KERMIT, TEXAS -

A year after a trial that made national headlines, a Winkler County Doctor is arrested for two 3rd Degree felonies.

Doctor Rolando Arafiles was arrested for “misuse of official information” and “retaliation” after an investigation by the State Attorney General’s Office.

After someone advised the AG’s office to launch an investigation a representative hit west Texas this week, arresting Doctor Arafiles on Tuesday.

According to the Winkler County Sheriff, the arrests will keep on coming.

Arafiles was arrested and taken to the Winkler County Detention Center Tuesday.

He was issued a “PR” or Personal Recognizance Bond, meaning he didn’t have to pay to leave the jail.

However, officials did confiscate the passport of Arafiles, a native of the Philippines.

The charges stem from conduct that took place here at the Winkler County Memorial Hospital in late April of 2009.

According to the complaint, Dr. Arafiles retaliated against the two nurses after they called his medical practices into question.

The facts in the official complaint filed against Arafiles aren’t new. They came out in February 2010 when Arafiles took the stand in the trial against nurse, Anne Mitchell.

But now, the Kermit “good-old boy system” as it’s been called by so many is leading to punishment.

“We made the AG’s office aware on some level of what had happened in the case of those nurses”, says Texas Medical Board spokeswoman, Leigh Hopper.

Hopper says that when the TMB gave confidential information to Sheriff Robert Roberts in 2009, they didn’t realize it would be misused.

“We assumed that we were sharing information pertaining to the Sheriff also investigating the Doctor”.

That’s what nurses Anne Mitchell and Vickilyn Galle wanted from the beginning – oversight into mistakes and questionable practices by Arafiles.

Instead they were fired, arrested, indicted and then put on trial.

The confidence Arafiles displayed when the nurses were on trial 11 months ago was nowhere to be found when we caught up with him this afternoon in Kermit.
In a brief conversation with Arafiles’ close friend, Robert Roberts, at the Winkler County Detention Center this afternoon, the Sheriff told us he believes he’ll be arrested next.

The Attorney General’s office would not comment on any future arrests but because of the cooperation between the Doctor, Sheriff, County Attorney, District Attorney and Hospital Administrator in 2009, some are saying that any one of them could be the next official behind bars.

Arafiles Warrant

Related Posts

1. Former Sheriff Robert Roberts Arrested Monday By HCSO
2. Jury Gets Winkler County Sheriff Case Today [VIDEO]
3. Criminal Trial of Winkler County Sheriff Begins [VIDEO]
4. Petition Filed To Oust Winkler County Attorney Fostel: HURRY Before He Is Arrested
5. Who is Dr. Rolando Arafiles? Other than the horrid Dr. in the Winkler County fiasco [VIDEO]