A Cannon County woman is charged for the third time with doctor shopping for prescription drugs, using the state’s healthcare insurance program for payment.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG), with the assistance of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, arrested Heather Marie Hale, 30, of Woodbury. She is charged in Warren County with using TennCare to visit multiple providers in a short period of time in order to obtain prescriptions for the painkillers Hydrocodone, Tramadol and Tylenol with codeine. TennCare was used to pay for the clinical visits, the prescriptions, or both. Hale was being held in the Rutherford County Jail on unrelated charges and was later transported to the Warren County Jail where she was served.
Hale was arrested in November of last year on an indictment in Rutherford County where she was charged with doctor shopping for Hydrocodone and Tramadol, using TennCare as payment. She was first arrested in September of last year on a Cannon County indictment charging her with two counts of using TennCare to obtain prescriptions for the painkillers Hydrocodone and Tramadol. She was given four years of supervised probation in a plea bargain agreement.
TennCare fraud is now a Class D felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
The OIG, which is separate from TennCare, began full operation in February 2005 and has investigated cases leading to more than $3 million being repaid to TennCare, with a total estimated cost avoidance of more than $163.6 million for TennCare, according to latest figures. To date, 2,797 people have been charged with TennCare fraud.
Anyone can report suspected TennCare fraud by calling 1-800-433-3982 toll-free from anywhere in Tennessee, or visit the OIG website and follow prompts that read “Report TennCare Fraud.”

Texting and driving is a dangerous and sometimes deadly distraction that is oftentimes hard for officers to prove. Currently, they can’t ask to see a driver’s phone if they suspect distracted driving.
In 2016, Tennessee Highway Patrol issued 13,549 citations for texting and driving.
This year, troopers have already issued 849 distracted driving citations for texting and due care violations.
What if officers could check a distracted driver’s phone for text messages just like they ask a suspected drunk driver to perform a breathalyzer? A new bill being drafted in the legislature is aiming to make that happen.
The device officers would use is called a “textalyzer.” An officer could plug the device in to a driver’s cell phone to see if the person was texting before a crash.
One obstacle would be proving there’s probable cause and that the search is constitutional.
The Supreme Court says officers need a warrant to search a phone. But this bill could closely mirror the laws that make breathalyzers legal.
On benefit is privacy should not be compromised, as officers cannot read the content of the messages. The app would only allow officers to see that a message has been sent.
The last day to file bills this legislative session is Feb. 9. (WSMV-TV)

Three members of the Coffee County Water Wastewater Treatment Authority have resigned, leaving the board unable to conduct business. John Hall, Don Hershman and Margaret Cunningham have all resigned. This group and two others were in charge of the Wayside Sewer System.
The next meeting of the State of Tennessee Water and Wastewater Financing Board is scheduled for March 13. The sewer system serves the area of Wayside, Country Air and Deer Range, located off Hwy 55.
On Jan. 10, the full commission supported a resolution to forgive the debt for the sewer system if a utility company agrees to assume operations of the system.
The question is who will be in charge of the Wayside Sewer System? Coffee County Mayor Gary Cordell is hoping to get a resigning member to reinstate for one day so they can abolish the authority and turn the operating power over to the county government.