WOMAN SENT TO REHAB WHO LIED TO GET OXYCONTIN

Roxanne Marie Borth Used A Social Worker's Card To Pretend She Was Doing An
"Investigation."

It was moving day, but Roxanne Marie Borth wasn't feeling up to it.

She was going through OxyContin withdrawals that gave her a sickness like
nothing she had ever felt, she said. A friend who was helping her move was
also feeling the downward pull of the narcotic.

But the friend said she knew someone else who had plenty of the painkiller,
according to Borth. As the pair moved Borth's things, they joked about how
they could get it - Borth would pretend to be a social worker, and would
seize the pills as part of an "investigation."

"I was in pain. She was in withdrawal," Borth testified Tuesday in Roanoke
Circuit Court. "The whole thing became more real."

Borth, who in February pleaded no contest to robbery, has spent about nine
months in the city jail since her arrest in the Oct. 22 incident. On
Tuesday, a judge ruled that she can avoid prison if she can successfully
complete the drug rehabilitation program at Hegira House in Roanoke.

Judge Richard Pattisall gave her a 10-year sentence, with all but three
years suspended. The three years could be diverted to Hegira House, with a
program regarded as the state's toughest.

Borth, 33, of the 400 block of Allison Avenue Southwest, has suffered back
problems from a car wreck and scoliosis, according to testimony.

She wound up with a prescription for OxyContin, a narcotic with a
heroin-like high whose notoriety is spreading. Borth took as much as 300
milligrams of her prescription OxyContin daily and resorted to buying more
from others who were abusing the drug.

"It's just the worst drug," she said. "I have experimented with a lot of
drugs, and this is the worst of all. When you're going through withdrawal,
it's just terrible."

It led her to the house of Janet Keener on Grandin Road, where Borth
presented a business card a Roanoke social services case worker had given
her after a home study. She accused Keener of illegally selling the
medications she had been legitimately prescribed for diagnoses of
narcolepsy, depression and back pain.

On the stand, Borth accused the woman who was with her that day of being a
co-conspirator. (http://www.theroanoketimes.com)The Roanoke Times is not
identifying the woman because she was not charged.

Prosecutor Mary Blaney, citing Borth's long history of drug use and failed
treatment, asked Pattisall to impose a full 10-year sentence. Borth's
attorney, Eric Branscom, noted that this was Borth's first felony charge.

"We'll see whether you're serious about your recovery," the judge said as
he sentenced her. "If not, you'll be back for probation revocation ... so
it's up to you."