Doctor Arrested for Prescribing Himself for Past 13 Years

TYLER — A Tyler doctor has been arrested for illegally prescribing himself opioid pills. According to an arrest warrant obtained by our news partner KETK, David Shafer, 59, was arrested October 14 by the Texas Department of Public Safety and is the second Tyler doctor to be arrested for illegally supplying opioids. Authorities allege Shafer had doctored himself with the opiods for the last 13 years. Investigators uncovered that Shafer had been writing prescriptions for Hydrocodone in his wife’s name since 2006, but had been taking them himself.

The warrant says Shafer had been scripts every 10-15 days for up to 120 pills per bottle. He paid in cash for the bottles and never used insurance. Shafer also was obtaining a prescription of Hydrocodone from another doctor on a monthly basis for the last two decades. Dr. James Stocks, 66, was arrested in September for prescribing hydrocodone to Shafer.