BASSETT, Va. – A former employee has filed a lawsuit against a rehabilitation facility in Bassett, alleging the center falsified medical records and improperly distributed medications to patients.
The 14-page lawsuit was filed by former medication technician Cynthia Cobbler, who worked at Sobrius from November until March. The suit alleges Cobbler was fired after reporting the alleged misconduct to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to the complaint, Cobbler witnessed patients being given medications that were not prescribed to them shortly after beginning work at the facility.
The lawsuit alleges employees took leftover medications from former patients and placed them in a cabinet labeled “house stock.” Cobbler claims coworkers told her they would use medications from the cabinet when a patient needed a certain drug but did not have a prescription for it.
Court filings…
PAYROLL & HR CONTROLS (PREVENTING “GHOST” SCHEMES)
Payroll fraud is often the hardest to detect because it “looks” like a normal business expense.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD): The person who adds new employees to the system must not be the same person who approves the monthly pay run.
- Mandatory Vacation Policy: Require all financial and HR staff to take 5–10 consecutive days of leave annually. Fraud often surfaces when the perpetrator isn’t there to “hide” the trail.
- Ghost Employee Audit: Perform a quarterly “Headcount Reconciliation” where managers must physically verify every name on their payroll list exists.
- Self-Pay Blocking: Ensure the payroll software has a hard-coded block preventing administrators from editing their own salary or bank details.