DES MOINES – A woman who was convicted along with her painkiller-addicted nurse friend for using bogus prescriptions to obtain drugs has lost her appeal.
Two Algona women were arrested in 2012 in connection to an investigation into forged prescriptions.
Gina Splitt, age 36, was a nurse who claims to have worked at Mercy Medical Center of North Iowa. She had been charged with four counts of class C felony prohibited acts for controlled prescriptions, four class C felony counts of possession of a controlled substance, and two class D felony counts of insurance fraud.
Splitt later plead guilty to two counts of felony C prohibited acts, one count of misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and one count of felony D insurance fraud. She was sentenced to probation and $5,811.30 in fines and court fees.
Melissa Ricke, age 35 had been charged with two class C felony counts and one aggravated misdemeanor count of prohibited acts for forged prescriptions, two class C felony counts and aggravated misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance and two class D felony counts of insurance fraud.
Ricke was later found guilty by a Cerro Gordo county jury of two counts of a felony C controlled substance violation and sentenced to probation and $1,789.24 in fines and court fees.
Both women received suspended prison sentences.
At trial, the State offered proof of the following facts which support the guilty verdicts. Mason City police officers started investigating suspicious prescriptions presented at local pharmacies by nurse Gina Splitt. Their investigation eventually turned to Ricke, who was Splitt’s co-worker and best friend. Police Officer Jeremy Ryal discovered Ricke had filled a prescription for Norco, a mixture of acetaminophen and hydrocodone, at the Mason City Walgreens store on September 17, 2012.
The prescription was ostensibly signed by Dr. Gholam “Gino” Zadeii, a cardiologist at the Mason City Clinic. Ricke told Officer Ryal she “happened to bump into Dr. Zadeii” at the hospital and had a conversation with him about pain medication for a shoulder injury she had suffered. Ricke told the officer her own medical provider had cut back on her prescription without telling her about it. According to Ricke, she later made arrangements with Dr. Zadeii over the phone for nurse Splitt to pick up the Norco prescription for Ricke.
Dr. Zadeii testified he never met Ricke before the investigation, she was not his patient, and he never examined her shoulder or discussed her injury. He also denied prescribing Ricke any medication and testified the signature on the Norco prescription at issue was not his. In fact, he did not prescribe narcotics at all in his cardiology practice, according to his testimony. Dr. Zadeii testified he did know nurse Splitt from the hospital, but never prescribed drugs for her.
The defense presented testimony from Splitt, who admitted lying to police when they were investigating her and admitted having been “really foggy” during the investigation because she was in the “throes of addiction” to pain killers. Splitt told the jury that she had seen Dr. Zadeii conversing with Ricke “outside the cath lab” and she recalled picking up prescriptions for Ricke. On cross- examination, Splitt acknowledged having several felony convictions for crimes of dishonesty.
The state started the trial alleging eight counts against Ricke: three counts of prohibited acts for fraudulently obtaining prescriptions, three counts of possession of controlled substances without valid prescriptions, and two counts of insurance fraud. The district court entered judgment of acquittal on the insurance fraud counts and the jury acquitted Ricke on four of the remaining six counts. The jury returned guilty verdicts on two charges involving Ricke’s conduct on September 17, 2012: the prohibited act of obtaining hydrocodone with a forged prescription, a class “C” felony, and possession of hydrocodone without a valid prescription, a serious misdemeanor. The court entered judgment on those counts and sentenced Ricke to a suspended prison term, not to exceed ten years, and placed her on probation for three years on the felony count, as well as imposing a two-day jail term on the misdemeanor count.
On appeal, Ricke argued the state failed to offer sufficient proof she knew the prescription she used to obtain the hydrocodone was forged. However, the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled that the state offered credible evidence and affirmed her convictions.
CONVICTION UPHELD
