Two nurses employed by VA Butler Healthcare have been charged with conspiring to illegally obtain a prescription for a large quantity of the prescription painkiller Percocet in December.

Ann M. Twentier, 53, of Portersville, and Eugene John Lewis, 58, of Leeper, Clarion County, were charged with felony and misdemeanor charges by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, and were released on unsecured bail at their preliminary arraignments last week before Magisterial District Judge Duane L. Quinn in Clarion.

Both are charged with a felony count of conspiracy to acquire a controlled substance by fraud and a misdemeanor count of furnishing false or fraudulent material information. Their preliminary hearings are scheduled for July 26.

The charges stem from an investigation that began Dec. 20 when the manager of a CVS Pharmacy in Clarion contacted attorney general narcotics agent Stephanie McElhaney about a voicemail that Lewis allegedly left at the pharmacy on Dec. 18 for a prescription for 240 tablets containing 10 milligrams of Percocet for Twentier, who Lewis identified as a patient, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Lewis is certified nurse practitioner, and Twentier is a registered nurse, according to the affidavit.

After finding the voicemail, the pharmacy called Lewis and told him that a prescription of that quantity of a Schedule II drug for a patient who had never before received opiate medications could not be called in, and the pharmacy would need a copy of the prescription for verification before it could be filled, according to the affidavit.

Later that day, the pharmacy received a fax with the VA Butler Healthcare letterhead that included a prescription for Twentier for 60 10-milligram Percocet tablets for upcoming knee surgery. A signature block for Lewis was not signed, and his DEA registration number, medical license number and other requirements for a valid prescription were not included, according to the affidavit.

A short time after that, Twentier allegedly delivered a written prescription for 240 Percocet tablets on Veterans Administration forms from the VA Medical Center in Butler, according to the affidavit. The pharmacy told her that the prescription wouldn’t be filled until it was verified.

The pharmacy faxed a copy of the prescription and letterhead to the VA Medical Center. The center responded by telling the pharmacy that the prescription was not valid, Twentier was not a VA patient and is not under Lewis’ care, and that Lewis was on a medical leave of absence, according to the affidavit.

An investigator reported that Lewis was on leave because he had knee replacement surgery in May 2021 and a second knee replacement in December 2021, and that he and Twentier were in a romantic relationship and could be living together, according to the affidavit.

A prescription history report for Lewis revealed he had obtained 30 tablets containing 5 milligrams of oxycodone on Dec. 23 and 28 5-milligram oxycodone tablets on Dec. 17, according to the affidavit.

When McElhaney contacted Twentier, she said Lewis was a friend and was not her primary care physician, and she was not a VA patient. She said the Percocet prescription was for a back injury she suffered in a fall, but she didn’t pick up the prescription because the pain ended, according to the affidavit.

Twentier said she was not having surgery, but the prescription was for her and not Lewis, according to the affidavit.

In another interview in January, Twentier said she and Lewis were in a relationship and she asked him to call in a prescription for her because she hurt her back when she tripped over her dog. She said she had been staying with him and caring for him in his home since his knee replacement surgery in December, according to the affidavit.

When Lewis was interviewed in January, he said he was in a hospital following a knee replacement and had taken an oxycodone tablet, and wasn’t thinking clearly when he called in the prescription for Twentier. He said he didn’t remember submitting the second prescription by fax because he was on medication, but it was possible he sent it from his laptop, according to the affidavit.