NURSE CHARGED WITH PRESCRIPTION FRAUD

Waukesha -- A pediatric nurse at Waukesha Memorial Hospital who
authorities said attempted to obtain narcotics with a forged
prescription was caught after area pharmacies put an informal but
long-standing phone tree into action.

The phone tree of about 30 to 40 pharmacies was created decades ago by
the now defunct Waukesha County Pharmaceutical Association but is
still used to alert druggists to possible cases of prescription fraud.

"The pharmacies get to the point that they alert each other so well it
makes the job of law enforcement easy," said Pewaukee Police Chief Ed
Baumann. "They police themselves and do an excellent job."

"You call me and I call the next pharmacy. It works," said Mike
Reiland, a pharmacist at the Pewaukee Rexall Pharmacy, who said
"alerts" come about every three months.

In the recent case, Laurie Lee Kassel, 32, of Pewaukee was charged in
Waukesha County Circuit Court with one count of attempted fraud to
obtain possession of a controlled substance.

Her attorney, Michael Hart, declined to discuss the case Tuesday and
said Kassel would not be available for an interview. If convicted,
Kassel would face a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a
$15,000 fine.

According to police and a criminal complaint, Pewaukee police arrested
Kassel Thursday at the Pewaukee Rexall Pharmacy, 115 W. Wisconsin
Ave., after she allegedly attempted to use a prescription for Lortab
Elixir, a narcotic.

Officers were called to the store at 12:41 p.m. after a pharmacist
there had been alerted by phone by a pharmacist at Jendusa Pharmacy in
Waukesha about the alleged fraud. Kassel allegedly had attempted to
fill the same prescription there but had written it for the wrong
strength, leading the Jendusa pharmacist to call the doctor, according
to the complaint and authorities. Kassel had already left the store by
the time the doctor's office called back to say no such prescription
had been issued, according to authorities.

Kassel allegedly told police she suffered from chronic pain in her jaw
and had obtained a prescription from her doctor. She said that the
medication's effect started to diminish over time, leading her doctor
to question how she was using the drug, according to the complaint.

When police asked whether she was addicted to the medication, Kassel
initially denied it, but then said, "Maybe I am," the complaint says.

Waukesha Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Kathy Allen said Kassel is
still employed at the hospital but "is not currently on the job"
pending the resolution of the criminal case.