This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped all charges against a Unified Fire Authority assistant chief who was accused of going from doctor to doctor to obtain prescription drugs.
Marlon Don Jones was charged last year with 14 counts of so-called doctor shopping, after a widespread UFA investigation into missing morphine led detectives to check state prescription records of fire employees who had been prescribed opiate drugs.
On Tuesday prosecutors dismissed the case, which a judge said in May didn't seem solid enough to survive a jury's scrutiny.
That's because several of the doctors Jones was accused of conning testified at a preliminary hearing that Jones never asked them for any prescriptions. They said the medications he was given had been their idea.
Jones, 49, was found to have a "large number" of prescriptions for several highly addictive controlled substances from various pharmacies and doctors, according to court documents.
But several of his doctors said they would take him back as a patient and that the amount of prescriptions he was taking wouldn't have raised any red flags had they seen it in his medical records.
"It is my opinion today that at no time was [Jones] dependant on medications nor was he drug-seeking," testified Craig Coleby, a doctor who specializes in orthopedic medicine. "The opioids [Jones was taking] had been determined by his other physicians to be medically necessary."
Defense Attorney Tyler Ayers released a statement Wednesday asking that Jones, who has been on paid administrative leave since he was charged last year, be reinstated immediately.
He wrote that Jones has been "overwhelmed" by all the support he received from his friends, family, colleagues and community members.
"With this support, he and his family have weathered this storm with grace and dignity," Ayers wrote.
Ayers, who had previously lambasted the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office for playing politics in its prosecution of Jones, included praise for prosecutors in his statement, lauding their decision to ultimately dismiss the case.
"We appreciate the efforts of the District Attorney's Office's full and fair investigation into this matter," Ayers wrote. "It is clear that their primary aim is the fair administration of justice. We applaud the courage that it takes to change directions midstream and look for what is right for an individual, as opposed to simply justifying a previous position. This is truly an example of the justice system working."
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