A Schuylkill County doctor placed on suspension by state medical officials smuggled drugs in her rectum into Lackawanna County Prison, according to state prosecutors.
Dr. Stephanie Tarapchak, 45, of 1239 Centre St., Ashland, wrote prescriptions for highly addictive drugs to drug-dependant patients and herself, and smuggled drugs into the county prison for her own use, according to charges filed Thursday by the state attorney general's office.
County prison Warden Robert McMillan said he and his staff were unaware of the charges against Tarapchak and alleged smuggling into the prison, but said that may have happened before his time. He became warden in June 2011.
McMillan stressed that objects brought into the prison are heavily scrutinized.
"We investigate everything," McMillan said.
According to the county grand jury presentment, she smuggled Vicodin, Adipex and Ambien in her rectum while she served 10 consecutive weekends in county prison for being in contempt of court following 2011 child custody hearings.
Her 16-year-old daughter overdosed on Xanax given to her by her mother in November 2010, which prompted her father to file a petition for emergency special relief a few days later.
Tarapchak, who is a doctor of osteopathic medicine and specializes in internal medicine, illegally dispensed thousands of schedule II controlled substances, including Oxycodone and Hydrocodone, between January 2008 and August 2011. Prosecutors believe that her prescribing practices led to multiple overdoses, including the death of a 52-year-old patient in June 2011, four days after being prescribed an excessive amount of Oxycodone.
She ordered excessive amounts of controlled substances from Moore Medical LLC, a wholesale supplier in Connecticut. She prescribed medication to patients and family without any physical examination, as well as dispensing drugs to herself.
In one instance, she drank alcohol in 2009 with her then-boyfriend and went to her medical office, introduced him to intravenous Valium and gave him an injection of testosterone.
She also fraudulently billed insurance companies for patient visits and procedures never performed to fuel her drug addiction, according to the state attorney general's office.
She was placed on probation by the State Board of Osteopathic Medicine in March 2012 for an undisclosed medical reason, though she was required to attend support groups, not use any controlled substances except approved medications prescribed by a licensed health care provider, notify the state's Professional Health Monitoring Program of all such prescriptions and submit to random drug testing.
According to Pennsylvania Department of State databases, her medical license is currently suspended.
Tarapchak was charged with corrupt organizations, drug delivery resulting in death, prescribing outside the scope of practice, distribution/prescription to a drug dependent person, refusal or failure to keep records, controlled substance contraband to a confined person, perjury, endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person, insurance fraud, theft by deception and criminal conspiracy.
She was sent to Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $100,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 9.