By Brad Hicks / Staff Writer
A Keavy man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly providing prescription pills to women in return for sexual favors.
Roy Cobb, 55, was indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in London Wednesday on the count of distributing pills containing Oxycodone.
Roy Cobb came to the attention of investigators after Det. Richard A.J. Dalrymple of the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office conducted an interview with Cobb’s daughter, Mary Cobb, at the U.S. District Courthouse in London on June 13. Mary Cobb was in the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s Service at that time, on charges that she and Michael Huffman robbed the Rite-Aid pharmacy located in the Carnaby Square Shopping Center in London in March. In late July, Mary Cobb and Huffman pleaded guilty to those charges.
During the June 13 interview with Mary Cobb, Dalrymple states in an affidavit that he was interviewing her about her role in the robbery. She advised Dalrymple that she had been taking OxyContin for around nine months prior to her arrest and that she received most of the OxyContin from her father.
According to the affidavit, Mary Cobb told Dalrymple that Roy Cobb obtained his OxyContin through a doctor in Tennessee and that he would give the pills to women in eastern Kentucky in return for sexual favors.
One week later, Dalrymple and Det. Brad Mitchell with the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office interviewed an informant at the Laurel County Detention Center. The informant, being jailed on theft charges, allegedly told Mitchell that approximately two and a half years before her incarceration, she was told by a now deceased female that she could obtain OxyContin from Roy Cobb in return for sexual favors. The informant told investigators that she and the now deceased female engaged in sexual contact under the direction of Roy Cobb in exchange for an OxyContin pill, the affidavit states.
This informant allegedly told Mitchell that over the course of the next two years, she would visit Roy Cobb approximately “every other day” to obtain OxyContin, but only paid money for the drugs on about 50 occasions. The other times, the affidavit states, she exchanged sexual favors for the drugs, ranging from sexual contact with other women, to performing oral sex on Roy Cobb, to sexual intercourse with Cobb.
A second informant was interviewed by Mitchell on June 24. This informant allegedly told Mitchell that she had known Cobb over the last year and a half and that he was getting prescription pills from a doctor in Tennessee. According to the affidavit, this informant told investigators that she knew Cobb to frequently trade pills for sex with young women and described several instances in which he witnessed this exchange.
On that same date, Mitchell interviewed a third informant. This informant allegedly told police that Cobb bragged about providing the pills in return for sexual favors with younger women. This informant also told police that Cobb allegedly showed them a hidden camera in the ceiling of his residence, which Cobb used to tape videos of him and the females.
On June 27, the London office of the DEA executed a federal search warrant on Cobb’s residence. There, they recovered 32 pill bottles prescribed to Roy Cobb for OxyContin or Oxycodone. They also recovered Roy Cobb’s cell phone, which allegedly contained at least two photos of females performing oral sex on a male subject. However, pictures were taken by the person receiving the sexual act, making it difficult to identify the person taking the picture.
A fourth informant was interviewed on June 30. According to the affidavit, this informant said she met Roy Cobb in the summer of 2005. Roy Cobb allegedly provided her with free OxyContin when they first met and took her shopping over the course of several days. The affidavit states that this informant advised investigators that she then began having to perform sexual favors on Cobb for OxyContin. This allegedly continued over the course of the next 15 months, but the informant only paid money for the pills about 10 times.
Another informant was interviewed on June 30. She also told investigators that Cobb allegedly gave her free OxyContin until she wanted more. Then he allegedly began demanding sexual favors in return for the drugs as well.
The affidavit states that the incidences allegedly occurred in Laurel, Knox and Whitley counties.
At an arraignment hearing Wednesday, Roy Cobb pleaded not guilty. A trial date is currently set for Dec. 2 in U.S. District Court in London. If convicted, Roy Cobb faces up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine and a minimum of three years supervised release.
