CLARION CO., Pa. (EYT) — Three former area hospital employees are facing felony charges following an investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office into the acquisition of unauthorized narcotics prescriptions.

Court documents indicate the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General filed criminal charges against 48-year-old Trisha L Boocks, of Emlenton, 36-year-old Brittany Lynn Reed, of Clarion, and 44-year-old Charity Schill, of Lucinda.

According to a criminal complaint, the Office of Attorney General (OAG) Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and Drug Control (BNIDC) initiated an investigation of schedule IV controlled substance Phentermine illegally obtained by Trisha Boocks after being alerted by Clarion Hospital staff that they had discovered there were prescriptions issued in Boocks’ name under the name of a doctor when the doctor denied ever seeing Boocks as a patient or authorizing the prescriptions.

OIG Narcotics Agent Brown met with several employees of Clarion Hospital and learned that former employees of Clarion Hospital were sending, via electronic and fax transmissions, unauthorized prescriptions to pharmacies for Phentermine for another former employee, Trisha Boocks, under the name of a known doctor when the doctor never authorized the prescriptions.

According to the complaint, the violations were discovered when Boocks attempted to obtain a refill prescription from a practice associated with Clarion Hospital, and an employee discovered in the computer that Boocks had received numerous prescriptions for Phentermine under the doctor’s name. The employee questioned the length of time that Boocks had been receiving the prescription.

Through the Clarion Hospital personnel’s investigation, it was discovered that on April 12, 2018, Charity Schill, an employee of Clarion Hospital, added a prescription and sent it to a pharmacy on behalf of the doctor for Trisha Boocks for 90 tablets of Phentermine. Schill sent and additional prescriptions under the doctor’s name to another pharmacy on May 8, 2018, which was not filled, as it was over the dosage allowance, according to the complaint.

The complaint notes that the investigation also showed that on May 22, 2018, a second known Clarion Hospital employee sent a prescription in Boocks name to a third pharmacy under the same doctor’s name for 90 more tablets of Phentermine.

The investigation further showed that on July 13, 2018, Clarion Hospital employee Brittney Reed sent a prescription via fax signed on behalf of the doctor to the first pharmacy for Boocks for 90 more tablets of Phentermine.

According to the complaint, the investigation showed that on August 27, 2018, Boocks refilled a prescription for 90 Phentermine tablets at the third pharmacy, and on November 15, 2018, Boocks entered a prescription for herself in the Hospital’s “Medent” computer system and changed a prescription date to November 5, 2018.

The complaint notes that on November 19, 2018, Reed sent another prescription refill to the first pharmacy for 90 more Phentermine tablets for Boocks without authorization, and Boocks picked up the prescription. Then on December 19, 2018, Boocks generated and printed a prescription for 90 Phentermine which was filled at the third pharmacy on December 20.

On December 21, 2018, Boocks received another refill for 90 more Phentermine tablets from the first pharmacy. Then on March 17, 2019, Boocks received 90 Phentermine from the third pharmacy on a refill, and she received 90 more Phentermine tablets on a refill at the first pharmacy on May 13, 2019, the complaint states.

OIG Narcotics Agent Brown interviewed the doctor who was listed on the prescriptions and obtained a written statement from him. The doctor stated he had never written or authorized any prescriptions for Phentermine for Boocks and further stated Boocks was never a patient of his, according to the complaint.

Agent Brown also interviewed an employee of the first pharmacy who was familiar with Boocks, as they worked in the same building. The pharmacy employee recalled Boocks picking up prescriptions for Phentermine, and also recalled speaking with Schill on the phone and being told by Schill that it was okay to fill a prescription for Phentermine when the employee called to question the duration of the prescription. The employee also recalled speaking to Reed who stated that it was okay to fill a prescription because Boocks was leaving on vacation.

Agent Brown’s interview with Charity Schill:

According to the complaint, Schill stated that Boocks had approached her to send a prescription for Phentermine and said that Boocks had asked the doctor if it was okay. Schill stated she did not personally ask the doctor and knew that Boocks was not his patient.

Agent Brown’s interview with Brittney Reed:

According to the complaint, Reed stated she knew that Boocks was not the doctor’s patient and admitted she sent a prescription for Phentermine to the pharmacy without the doctor’s permission.

Agent Brown’s interview with Trisha Boocks:

According to the complaint, Boocks admitted she was not and had never been the doctor’s patient, but stated she had asked him to authorize a prescription for her. She admitted that she had accessed her medical records on the “Medent” system and added Phentermine to her own records and that she had accessed the system and sent a prescription for herself for phentermine to a pharmacy. She also admitted to asking both Reed and Schill to send prescriptions for Phentermine to pharmacies for her.

Boocks was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Timothy P. Schill at 9:37 a.m. on Thursday, October 31, on the following charges:

– Acquire Or Obtain Possession Of Controlled Substance by Misrepresentation, Felony (12 counts)
– Intentional Possession of Controlled Substance By Person Not Registered, Misdemeanor

She was released on her own recognizance.

Reed and Schill were both arraigned in front of Judge Schill at 11:00 a.m. on October 31, on the following charges:

– Acquire Or Obtain Possession Of Controlled Substance by Misrepresentation, Felony (two counts)
– Procure for Self/Other Drug by Forgery, Misdemeanor (two counts)

Both women were released on their own recognizance.

Preliminary hearings for the cases are scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 19, with Judge Schill presiding.