This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Prosecutors have dropped charges against a Murray chiropractor accused of billing a mentally disabled woman for treatments he did not provide.
Third District Judge Paul Maughan in April ordered the dismissal of all charges against John O. Meadors, a chiropractor at Utah Spine and Disc Inc. In a court filing, prosecutors sought to drop charges "in the interests of justice" and because the victim and "a necessary witness" were unable to testify.
Meadors was charged in December with one count of second-degree felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult. According to the charges, a woman who suffers from mental retardation visited Meadors' Murray office in June for treatment for severe headaches.
Prosecutors claimed that the woman, without the knowledge of her legal guardian, was given an application for a $6,000 line of credit and a contract for 20 treatment sessions. Payment records showed the credit account was billed for more than $5,000 even though the woman only received three treatments, prosecutors previously wrote.
Meadors did not know about the disputed payments until he was arrested, said his attorney Harold Reiser.
"There was some miscommunication along the line," Reiser said. "Dr. Meadors never got a request from the family … for a refund. We understood that [the creditor] had eventually refunded all the patient's money they had financed, and Dr. Meadors sent a refund check to the patient that was never claimed."
Reiser said the dismissal of the charges was "fair and appropriate."