(WLUK) — An Appleton nurse practitioner was sentenced to federal prison for unlawfully prescribing opioids to patients and keeping some of the pills for herself.
Jessica Friday was sentenced to 16 months of imprisonment after pleading guilty to one count of distribution of controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate purpose.
The charges stem from Friday’s unlawful prescribing between 2020 and 2024.
According to court records, during that period, Friday issued prescriptions for opioids, including Oxycodone, without a demonstration of medical necessity. Friday issued these prescriptions based on an arrangement with her patients where the patients agreed to fill the unlawful prescriptions and provide half, or more, of the pills to Friday for her personal use.
Prosecutors say Friday was aware, while she was engaging this conduct, that the people to whom she was prescribing did not need the opiates, that they were vulnerable for reasons of their mental health and addiction, and that they were selling at least some of the pills they retained from Friday’s unlawful prescriptions.
In announcing his sentence, Judge Stadtmueller noted Friday’s serious abuse of a position of a trust, the “staggering” volume of prescriptions Friday issued without medical need, and the need to promote deterrence among medical professionals who may be tempted to engage in similar unlawful prescribing practices.
“Rather than providing legitimate care as a medical professional, this defendant fueled and supplied her own addiction,” said U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel. “In the process, she simply became another drug dealer – another source of supply for putting highly addictive substances in the hands of others for no medical purpose. My office remains committed to working with DEA and all of our law enforcement partners to combat this epidemic.”
Upon completion of her prison sentence, Friday will serve a three-year term of supervised release.
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