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BRISTOL — A former city woman is being held on $1.1 million bond after leaving a program and failing to appear in court in connection with charges she was involved in a prescription drug fraud ring.
Ashley Bardell, 29, of Terryville, turned herself in Thursday at Bristol Superior Court on five counts of failure to appear in court.
Court officials said she left a treatment program — which should have lasted six to eight months — Tuesday after being released from custody on Nov. 22 to attend it. She had been held before then since her arrest in March.
The deal Bardell accepted last month required her to plead guilty to one felony count of sale of narcotics before she was admitted to the program to get treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues. Had she completed it successfully, according to court officials, her plea would have been vacated and she could have either been required to plead guilty to misdemeanors or no charges at all. But if she left the program before finishing it, she was required to be in court the next business day.
According to the arrest warrant, police began investigating Bardell last October and found that she had bought a total of 600 Oxycodone tablets between April and September in 2015 during five purchases in various Bristol pharmacies. In all of the purchases, the warrant said, a doctor’s prescription pad was forged.
In four of the transactions, Bardell allegedly used Medicaid insurance to cover the cost. She used cash in the other purchase, police allege. During the investigation, she also allegedly sold a total of 16 Oxycodone tablets on two different occasions from her Plymouth apartment while under police surveillance, according to the warrant.
William Watson filled in Thursday for Bardell’s attorney, who could not be present. Watson asked that she be allowed to leave court on her own accord so she could come back the next day, when her normal lawyer could make an argument to vacate the re-arrest orders. Watson said Bardell left the program and immediately went to a hospital.
Watson also said her medication dosage was changed several times between being taken into custody and later being admitted into the program.
“Changing medication levels has a nasty impact,” he said. “It’s a legitimate argument.”
Jeffrey Lee, the prosecutor, called it a “legal impossibility” to allow Bardell to leave the courthouse, given that the re-arrest warrants were signed and active.
Judge Richard Dyer agreed, adding that it was reported to him through the program staff that Bardell may have only sought treatment so she could get out of jail. While in the program, she reportedly denied having any substance abuse issues or mental health illnesses.
Justin Muszynski can be reached at 860-973-1809 or [email protected].