Yesterday afternoon Sentinel reporter Austin Leedom received a telephone call from Channel 4 Columbus, Ohio asking for our information on the local pain clinic operated by Office Managers Denise Huffman, her daughter Alice Huffman Ball and Dr. Paul Volkman. A federal indictment was handed down yesterday after a year long investigation charging the three with the responsibility of the deaths of at least 9 local residents of Portsmouth/Scioto County.
Last night around 8:45 I talked with reporters of Channel 4 and gave them permission to use the stories that I had written and is readily available on the internet. The Sentinel and Doug Deepe were the first websites to write about the first case involving a pain clinic where Denise Huffman was employed. That involved Doctor David Proctor who is now serving a lengthy federal sentence after he was caught fleeing the country with his mistress Carolyn Lykins.
When the Proctor case ended, Denise Huffman moved her pain shop to Portsmouth, Ohio where she and her daughter, Linda Huffman Ball, hooked up with Dr. Paul Volkman and continued doing business as usual. About six months into that operation we were told by Denise Huffman (and was confirmed by a video recording in her office) that Portsmouth Police Officers entered her place of business in the early evening and demanded to look at the businesses patient records. According to Denise Huffman, Portsmouth Police Chief Charles Horner tried to "shake her down for cash". I interviewed Chief Horner about this accusation and he denied it happened. I then emailed federal prosecutors in Cincinnati, Ohio with the allegations and soon after a federal search warrant was issued by the federal court in Cincinnati for the Tri State Health Care Clinic without the knowledge of the local law enforcement officials. During the raid Sentinel reporters were told by federal agents that local law enforcement were not aware of the raid until after the raid began and this was only a courtesy call to inform them that the warrant was being served. Federal agents removed hundreds of boxes from the clinic while local law enforcement officials stood idly by watching.
This pain clinic received "high praise" on a local website called Moe's Forum. As late as this week people were on that forum seeking information about the new location of the clinic. Click this link to take you to that post (at least until they pull it down.)
http://com5.runboard.com/bmoesnewsforum.f1.t11704
The second post in the above link is from the forum owner and it states he hasn't heard from Denise Huffman in a long time. This clearly proves that Ferguson had contact with Huffman in the past. The owner of Moes Forum, Joseph Ferguson, is a convicted cocaine abuser/dealer who was caught in a case involving cocaine with a purchase value of over $20,000 in 2000. Ferguson was also caught with child pornography pictures in his home at 309 Front Street. Ferguson's wife Claudette stated on their forum that the pictures in question were of her two young children, with no biological link to Joseph Ferguson.
Over the years posters on Moe's Forum told the public that the pain clinic operated by Denise Huffman and Dr. Volkman was "legite" and that they encouraged people with chronic pain to go there for treatment. According to the federal indictment 9 names of dead local citizens is listed in the indictment but as many as 13 deaths are linked to the clinic in question.
Does it surprise anyone that a crack head and his crack head wife would support a pain clinic that was killing local residents? It doesn't surprise me. This is the norm for drug dealers/abusers to stick together.
It is unclear when Volkman, Huffman, and Ball will be arraigned or tried. The Sentinel will be traveling to federal court to watch this case as we did with the Doctor David Proctor case.
Stay tuned for more information about this case.
John Welton (DD)
