FORMER AMBULANCE SERVICE EMPLOYEE PLEADS GUILTY TO PRESCRIPTION FRAUD

BLOUNTVILLE -- Assistant District Attorney Gene Perrin said he is going to
ask that the maximum prison sentence be given to a Kingsport man who
obtained or attempted to obtain pain medication fraudulently on at least 11
separate occasions.

Michael Todd Hartsock, 29, 1018 Borden St., pleaded guilty in Sullivan
County Criminal Court on Monday to 11 counts of fraudulently obtaining or
attempting to obtain a controlled substance and two counts of theft under $500.

Perrin said that from Oct. 12, 2000, until Jan. 5, 2002, Hartsock used
forged prescriptions created on a personal computer to obtain Oxycodone and
Hydrocodone from area pharmacies. Perrin said the two pain medications have
a street value of approximately $1 per milligram.

Hartsock, a former employee of Medic One Ambulance Service in Weber City,
used at least eight different doctors' names, six different patients'
names, and went to eight different pharmacies during the 15-month period.

"They were computer-generated prescriptions, and he was using various
names, going to different pharmacies, and passing fraudulently produced
prescriptions or calling in to a pharmacy and pretending to be a doctor,"
Perrin said. "He just created havoc."

Hartsock faces nine years in prison, six years on supervised probation, and
an $1,100 fine. Perrin said the prison time Hartsock faces has to run
consecutively because of how the law reads.

"There were five episodes of crimes - or four separate occasions where he
would be out on bond for one felony and then commit another," Perrin said.
"Because of that, the law states the sentences have to run consecutively."

Hartsock is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on May 13, where
Judge Jerry Beck could impose a maximum prison sentence of nine years.
Perrin said that is what he is going to ask for.

"It's our position that he needs to serve the whole nine years," Perrin
said. "Because of his prior record, because he's wanted in Hawkins County
and Scott County, Virginia, and based on the sheer number of cases."

Perrin said Hartsock's previous record includes soliciting to obtain a
controlled substance by fraud in 1999 and theft of property over $1,000 in
1992.

Monday's plea "wraps up all of the charges in Sullivan County," Perrin said.

However, according to court records, Hartsock was charged earlier this
month by the Church Hill Police Department with two counts of prescription
fraud.

According to police, on Oct. 12 Hartsock entered Church Hill Pharmacy in
his EMS uniform with a forged prescription and obtained 90 tablets of the
painkiller Lortab. He allegedly told pharmacy employees he was picking up
the medication for a patient.

On Nov. 5, Hartsock allegedly entered the same pharmacy with a prescription
forged from the same doctor's office and attempted to obtain 50 tablets of
the painkiller Percocet. When pharmacy employees recognized the
prescription did not have proper security markings and began to call the
doctor, Hartsock reportedly fled the store.

Church Hill police issued an arrest warrant for Hartsock after the second
incident, and that warrant was served by Sullivan County deputies days
later as Hartsock was leaving a courtroom in Blountville.

Hartsock was later indicted on four counts of prescription fraud in Scott
County for allegedly trying to have four forged prescriptions for the pain
medications Tylox and Lortab filled at three Scott County pharmacies.

Hartsock is scheduled to stand trial in Hawkins County Circuit Court on
Thursday.