TYLER/SMITH COUNTY (TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH) - Tara Kay McSwain, 38, pleaded guilty in July to two counts of fraudulent possession of a controlled substance for using forged prescriptions. She faced probation or 2 to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for the third – degree felonies.
Smith County Judge Kerry Russell of the 7th District Court sentenced Ms. McSwain on Tuesday to two consecutive six year terms for prescription fraud.
On the first case, she was sentenced to six years with a $10,000 fine. The second case was also for six years, but with no additional fine.
Ms. McSwain, owner of East Texas Medical Billing and a former manager at Apple Swim and Fitness, was arrested last summer and charged with nine counts of fraudulent possession of a controlled substance/prescription.
The state announced it will dismiss her seven other charges under a plea agreement. Apple Swim and Fitness was forcibly shut down in August after the Salt Lake City-based Zions First National Bank repossessed the property on July 3.
Tyler police spokesman Don Martin said earlier the department received a call June 16, 2011, from a Walgreens employee at the store in the 5400 block of South Broadway Avenue that someone was trying to fill a fraudulent prescription for hydrocodone, a narcotic prescribed for pain relief.
"The narcotics officers were out and about that night when it occurred and they were given a description of the car, they automatically knew who they were dealing with," Martin said. After responding to the call, narcotics officers began investigating Ms. McSwain and found what they said is evidence of six more prescription fraud cases, he said.
Tyler police previously arrested Ms. McSwain for using forged prescriptions, but no conviction was made, he said.
Sgt. Destry Walsworth, with Tyler police's narcotics division, said earlier that Ms. McSwain's medical billing business may be the primary source of her information.
"We believe she's using information from her business to further prescription fraud," he said at the time of her arrest.
