A nurse who stole prescription pads and forged a doctor’s signature for controlled substances in two counties was sentenced Thursday morning.
Jakayla Snodgrass, 24, of 386 T 26 Lane, Leesburg, was sentenced to one and a half years probation on a suspended sentence in Kosciusko County Circuit Court I Judge Rex Reed’s Court. Snodgrass was found guilty of attempting to acquire controlled substance by fraud.
Per the plea deal a count of forgery, a Class C felony, was dismissed.
On June 28, 2011, Thomas Calhoun, 28, South Bend, walked into the Warsaw CVS pharmacy and gave the clerk a prescription for Roxicodone, a controlled substance painkiller. The pharmacist contacted police upon realizing that the signature did not match that known to belong to Dr. David Darr, whose name was on the prescription pad.
Police determined that the prescription was written by Snodgrass and without Darr’s permission. Snodgrass was a resident nurse at Darr’s practice, Provident Family Healthcare in Warsaw, at the time of the incident.
Provident Family Healthcare declined to comment on the sentencing when contacted this morning.
The June 28 incident sparked a multi-county investigation involving Kosciusko and St. Joseph counties.
Detectives found several similar instances at South Bend pharmacies during the nine months prior to the Warsaw CVS incident.
During the sentencing hearing Snodgrass’s attorney Jack Birch spoke on her behalf.
“Throughout the majority of her life she has been a good citizen,” Birch said. “She is well-educated and has great family support. The situation she was pulled into was because of a dating relationship. The real Jakayla is represented by her 21 and a half years prior to that.”
Birch continued to make his case for Snodgrass.
“She is looking for a new career path where she can still help people,” Birch said. “She does need supervision. I don’t think we will see her back in the system.”
Once Birch was finished, Reed gave Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Steven Hearn a chance to speak on the state’s behalf.
“The record speaks for itself,” Hearn said.
Once the two attorneys were finished making statements, Reed spoke directly to Snodgrass.
“Ms. Snodgrass, the court has received a number of letters from people who are supportive of you. As I read those letter I oftentimes realize they do that out of a feeling of affection for you, but not the facts of the case,” Reed said. “I am concerned about a couple of those. I am also concerned about something you are not charged with. The failure of you in a very trusted and important job to not live up to the expectations that your employer had. I suspect you recognize that too.”
He continued, “Secondly I have a little bit of a problem here. If you were a young man, I would say, young man, there is a real possibility that your brain hasn’t completely developed and you need to get a full set of brains in order to get through life. I am talking to you and I hope you understand that. You are 24 years of age and you got a long life ahead of you. I hope you can overcome the bad circumstances that you have put yourself in here, if you are inclined to want to and accept the help of those who have supported you. I hope you do.”
Reed ordered that Snodgrass be incarcerated for a term of one and onehalf years in the Indiana Department of Corrections. Additionally Reed suspended the sentence and ordered Snodgrass to be placed on probation for that time. Reed also ordered that Snodgrass pay court costs, a $200 drug interdiction fee and a fine of $100.
As a part of her probation Reed ordered that Snodgrass be subject to random drug testing.
“If you are unsuccessful on probation, if you fail a drug screen and if you commit another crime you need to understand you will go to the IDOC, you will not pass go, you will not collect $200,” Reed said.
