Pretrial conference continued in forgery case
GREENCASTLE -- A pretrial conference for a Van Bibber Lake woman accused of forging several narcotics prescriptions has been continued to Dec. 9.
Cheryl A. Bargo, 48, of Van Bibber Lake was in Putnam County Circuit Court Thursday. She was arrested June 9, charged with three counts of Class C felony forgery and three counts of Class D felony obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.
At her initial hearing in June, Bargo entered not guilty pleas to all charges. Judge Matthew Headley set her bond at $20,000 with 10 percent allowed.
On July 1, Headley granted a motion made by Todd Sallee, who was Bargo's public defender at the time, to reduce Bargo's bond to $10,000 with 10 percent allowed.
Bond was posted for Bargo on July 13, and she was released from jail. Daily probation reporting and random drug testing are terms of her bond.
In court Thursday, Bargo told Headley that "transportation was an issue" in regard to her daily probation reporting. She said she had no car and that her driver's license was suspended and she had been unable to pay reinstatement fees.
She asked if she could have her reporting requirement reduced to two or three times a week.
"That would really help," Bargo said.
Headley said he would check with the probation department to see if they approved such a move.
"I'll see if I can get that reduced," he said.
The court removed Sallee from Bargo's case on Aug. 18 and replaced him with Joel Wieneke.
According to court records, while Bargo was employed as a licensed practical nurse at Tri-County Medical in Roachdale, she stole blank prescription pads.
Dr. Ray Howell and officer manager Nancy Schubert of Tri-County Medical contacted authorities on Oct. 9, 2009 to report the thefts. Howell and Schubert told police they believed Bargo took the prescription pads and that she had been forging prescriptions.
An affidavit of probable cause said Bargo commenced employment at Tri-County Medical on Dec. 1, 2008, and that she began committing acts of prescription fraud on Jan. 2, 2009.
Court records said Bargo forged prescriptions for various narcotics including hydrocodone, oxycontin, oxycodone and alprazolam.
She wrote the prescriptions for several different people and had them filled at pharmacies in Putnam and Rush counties in Indiana and in Oxford, Ohio.
Bargo has been charged with drug-related crimes in the past.
She was charged in April 2008 with Class C felony possession of methamphetamine and Class A misdemeanors possession of paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.
Under the terms of a plea agreement, she pled guilty to the marijuana charge and the other two charges were dismissed.
Bargo received a one-year Indiana Department of Correction sentence, all of which was suspended.
She was on probation without incident from Oct. 7, 2008 until June 24, 2009, when her probation case was closed.