Missouri Dental Board takes interest in Dr. Joseph's hit-and-run case four years after prescription drug discipline

Cherokee County, Kansas District Court documents indicate the Missouri Dental Board has taken an interest in the felony charges facing Dr. John Joseph II, Joplin, in connection with the August 19, 2023 hit-and-run death of Gary LaTurner, 60, Galena.

Joseph is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident and contributing to a child's misconduct and encouraging him to commit a felony. The child in question, his son Rocco Joseph, who was 17 at the time of the hit-and-run, is also charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

The District Court office e-mailed a copy of public documents in the Joseph case to the board Monday, according to the court docket.

The notation also included the information that a copy of the records was faxed to the Dental Board last week.

This is not the first time Joseph's conduct has come under the scrutiny of the Dental Board.

The board placed Joseph on probation for one year August 25, 2020 after investigating an August 13, 2019 complaint forwarded from the Missouri Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) saying that Joseph "was allowing a friend after hours access to {his} clinic and logged-on computers. Prescriptions were forged and licensee was censured by BNDD in 2018.

The same thing occurred "a second time with a different friend," according to the Dental Board document.

"The BNDD cited violations which included inadequate controls to guard against the diversion of controlled drugs, refills overlapping too soon causing diversion and failure to notify the BNDD of forged or falsified records."