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The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday charged two Lehigh Valley women who worked in medical offices for illegally obtaining opioid painkillers, according to court records.
The investigations were separate and did not appear to be related to one another.
In one case, Faith C. Barnhart, 31, of the 2800 block of Crest Avenue South in Allentown, was working as a registered nurse at Easton Hospital in Wilson Borough when her dispensing of medication raised red flags, authorities said.
The hospital’s head of pharmacy found Barnhart had been withdrawing medication for patients at off hours, for patients who had been discharged, for patients not in her care and for one who had died, records say.
Barnhart allegedly obtained 39 tablets of 5mg oxycodone, 28 tables of 5/325g oxycodone/acetaminophen (Percocet), eight vials of hydromorphone (Dilaudid) and 28 vials of morphine without authorization.
The drugs had been diverted by Barnhart between last Aug. 3 and Nov. 8 and were for her personal use, the hospital pharmacy director reportedly told investigators.
Barnhart was arraigned Wednesday before District Judge Richard Yetter III on a felony charge of acquisition of controlled substance by fraud in addition to misdemeanor drug possession.
She was released on $35,000 unsecured bail and ordered to remain drug- and alcohol-free, submit to random screens, surrender her passport and remain under supervision of Northampton County Pre-Trial Services.
A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled April 4 before Yetter to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to send the case to trial.
Barnart could not be reached for comment. A phone number listed for her address was busy on repeated calls.
In the other case, Margaret Hall, 39, of the 1800 block of Fairview Avenue in Wilson Borough, was working for Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Easton, where she admitted to taking and forging a prescription for 30 doses of hydrocodone-acetaminophen (Vicodin), court records say.
Hall allegedly had the script filled last Aug. 7 at a CVS Pharmacy and was subsequently fired.
Hall is also accused of trying to pass scripts in her husband’s name for Vicodin last Aug. 11 at Target, 3835 Dryland Way in Lower Nazareth Township. She successfully filled four prescriptions in her husband’s name for the painkiller Nov. 25, 2015; Jan. 31, 2016; Feb. 24, 2016; and March 10, 2016, at Giant Pharmacy, 801 S. 25th St. in Palmer Township.
Hall allegedly took possession of 176 tablets of the painkiller without proper authorization.
She was arraigned Wednesday before District Judge Jacqueline Taschner on a felony count of acquisition of controlled substance by fraud in addition to misdemeanor drug possession.
Hall was released on $75,000 unsecured bail and ordered to undergo a drug-and-alcohol evaluation and comply with recommended treatment; avoid alcohol and any non-prescribed drugs; submit to random urine screens and be fingerprinted by March 31.
No working phone number could be found for Hall, and a call for comment to her attorney Wednesday evening was not immediately returned.
She faces a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled April 5 before Taschner.