Thursday, January 13, 2000
Receptionist sentenced for passing drugs
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — A dental receptionist accused of helping her boss obtain drugs to feed his addiction to painkillers will be under the court's supervision for the next three years.
Saying the receptionist was not completely blameless, Judge P. Daniel Fedders placed Angela Ward, 19, of Lebanon on probation, ordered her to a drug rehabilitation program, and suspended her driver's license for one year.
One of two teens accused of passing fake prescriptions for Dr. Bill Bunce, Ms. Ward pleaded guilty last month to one count of illegal processing of a drug document.
Authorities accused Dr. Bunce of using Ms. Ward and her 17-year-old boyfriend to pass the fake prescriptions at local pharmacies after Dr. Bunce became addicted to painkillers following a knee injury. Dr. Bunce offered the teens drugs in return, police said.
“You may only be 19, and it may be that you were under the influence of Dr. Bunce, but you bear some of the responsibility for that conduct,” Judge Fedders admonished Ms. Ward. “I don't subscribe to the notion that you didn't know what you were doing was wrong, seriously wrong.”
Ms. Ward faced up to one year in prison. Dr. Bunce was sentenced in December to five years of probation and 2,000 hours of community service after pleading guilty to two charges of illegal processing of a drug document.
He voluntarily gave up his license to practice dentistry and lost his federal license to dispense drugs. He could have gone to prison for five years. The 17-year-old boy, who was charged as a juvenile, also received probation for his role in the offense.
Just as she had earlier for Dr. Bunce, the boy's mother asked for leniency for Ms. Ward on Wednesday.
Iva Baker called her a victim and “not the accomplice she is portrayed to be.”
Ms. Ward was being treated for back pain when she began working for Dr. Buncelast spring, Ms. Baker said.
“He offered her painkillers for her back, then he gave her prescriptions, and then he asked to share them with her,” she said.
Judge Fedders, reading from police and probation re ports, said Ms. Ward passed 73 or 74 prescriptions for painkillers. Each time, she gave 10 pills to Dr. Bunce and kept 14 for herself.
Ms. Baker said she was satisfied with the outcome of the case. Her forgiving statement to the judge last month at Dr. Bunce's sentencing spared the former dentist from prison, a judge said at the time.
“He lost a lot. His life is changed forever. Unfortunately, it wasn't by his own choice,” Ms. Baker said.
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