BANGOR, Maine — A former pharmacy technician at the health center at the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Indian Reservation in Perry waived indictment Tuesday and pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with obtaining narcotics illegally and her fraudulent use of food stamp benefits.
Tonia D. Smith, 42, of Perry was released on $1,000 unsecured bail, according to information posted on the court system’s electronic case filing system.
She pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count each of acquiring controlled substances by fraud and food stamp fraud.
“We anticipate putting on a thorough presentation at sentencing to put these charges in context,” defense attorney Logan Perkins of Bangor said Wednesday in an email.
A sentencing date has not been set.
By pleading guilty, Smith admitted that from July to November 2013, she
used her position as a pharmacy technician at the Indian Health Service Center in Perry to steal the pain medication hydrocodone from the pharmacy and then shredded records the pharmacy was required to keep to conceal her thefts.
Smith confessed that on four or five occasions she ordered more of the painkiller than the pharmacy needed and took them for her personal use, according to the prosecution version of events to which she pleaded guilty.
The investigation also revealed that Smith paid at least five recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 50 cents on the dollar for their EBT cards, according to court documents.
Smith faces up to four years in prison on the charge concerning the drug thefts and up to five years in prison on the food stamp fraud charge. She faces a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.