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Winkler Nurse Whistleblower Target Dr. Arafiles Surrenders License
Kermit, TX -With a hearing scheduled for Monday in a local criminal courtroom where Dr. Rolando Arafiles is expected to enter a guilty plea in an agreement with prosecutors, it appears he has complied with what is likely one of the stipulations of his deal. On Friday, Arafiles signed an agreement with the Texas Medical Board to surrender his license to practice medicine according to the Associated Press. No pending investigation by the Board or other events that we are aware of brought this about.
Arafiles has been charged with two counts of felony misuse of official information and retaliation against two former Winkler County Memorial Hospital nurses who anonymously reported him to the state medical board for shoddy patient care. When Arafiles learned of the complaint he enlisted the help of then county sheriff Robert Roberts, who was his friend, patient and sometimes business partner. Roberts left no stone unturned, seizing patient records and computers at the hospital. Ultimately he was able to get the local prosecutor to sign on, convene a grand jury and had the nurses charged with one of the same felonies he now faces: misuse of official information.
Arafiles has watched as his similarly charged cohorts, Roberts and county attorney Scott Tidwell, were convicted on all counts and sentenced to 100 and 120 days in jail respectively. Both of the former county officials were removed from office upon conviction. Acting as his own attorney, Arafiles has apparently seen the writing on the wall, negotiating a plea deal with the prosecutor. No details of the agreement have been released but it is a very good bet that they include Arafiles surrendering his medical license and some jail time. He MAY have been able to trade his license for a felony conviction. We shall see on Monday whether he walks away with merely a misdemeanor conviction like former hospital administrator Stan Wiley who turned state’s evidence in the affair. Arafiles is by no means a saint in all of this, but it does seem the good sheriff and county attorney, law enforcement officials, hold some greater responsibility for abusing their offices.
If Arafiles had hired a good attorney, he may have found that he was in the best position of any of the bunch to argue his case before a jury. After all, he was not the one to file criminal charges against the nurses. His valid argument could have been that the sheriff and county attorney were responsible for persecuting and prosecuting the nurses. Indeed he DID go to his friend the sheriff, but it was up to the sheriff to explain to him that this was not a criminal matter or one the sheriff should be involved in. It was up to Tidwell to tell them both the same thing when it came across his desk. That said, area residents can take solace in the fact Arafiles will not be greeting them when they seek medical care any longer.
The Texas Medical Board’s website did not yet reflect the change in his licensure status at the time of this went to press. He was already on probation as a result of the findings in the investigation initiated by the nurse’s complaint. And Arafiles problems do not end here. He is also under indictment for felony perjury for testimony he gave in the trial of Anne Mitchell, one of the nurse. After days of testimony, Mitchell was found not guilty in less than an hour.
Visit our Winkler County Page for the whole story of the Winkler County Nurses.
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[...] has plead guilty in a Texas courtroom in exchange for a sweetheart of a deal with the prosecution. As we predicted, Arafiles will be doing jail time. Here are the stipulations and [...]