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KINGSPORT, TN (WJHL) – Earlier this month, a Sullivan County grand jury indicted three people from Kingsport on multiple charges for their roles in a drug conspiracy, said state investigators.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reports special agents and a local drug task force began an investigation in June 2015 after receiving reports of prescription fraud involving an employee at a medical practice in Kingsport.
Nicole Coombs (Source: TBI)
Agents said they discovered from June 2015 to October 2015, 31-year-old Nicole Coombs used her position to call in fake prescriptions. They also said they discovered that Coombs supplied two other suspects, 35-year-old Cedric Shepherd II and 30-year-old Jessica Castle, with names and personal information of numerous people in order to fraudulently get prescription drugs from pharmacies in multiple jurisdictions.
The TBI says on January 4, a Sullivan County grand jury returned indictments on the three people listed above.
Coombs is charged with 37 counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, one count of conspiracy to obtain a controlled substance by fraud, one count of attempt to obtain a controlled substance by fraud and possession of Alprazolam for sale or delivery.
Coombs turned herself in on Wednesday and was booked into the Sullivan County jail where she is being held on a $15,000 bond.
Cedric Sheperd (Source: TBI)
Meanwhile, Shepherd is charged with one count of conspiracy to obtain a controlled substance by fraud, 33 counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, one count of attempt to obtain a controlled substance by fraud and possession of Alprazolam for sale or delivery.
Jessica Castle (Source: TBI)
Shepherd was already in the Sullivan County jail where he is being held on unrelated charges.
Castle, 30, is charged with one count of conspiracy to obtain a controlled substance by fraud and three counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. Castle was arrested on Wednesday and booked into the Sullivan County jail on a $12,500 bond.