Federal drug case ends in misdemeanor plea deal

Published 8:07 pm Saturday, April 13, 2013

The federal case against Washington native Amanda Bunch has ended in a plea deal with the Department of Justice, according to court documents.

Bunch pleaded guilty Thursday to a one-count misdemeanor charge of negligently failing to make and keep records, reports and information in violation of the Controlled Substances Act.

The charge stemmed from prescriptions for controlled substances written by Bunch, a nurse practitioner, for five others during the period of July 2009 to August 2010. The six were arrested in April of 2012 on a 261-count indictment that alleged fraud for prescription of medications like Oxycodone, Xanax and Hydrocodone.

Earlier this year, the cases against four of Bunch’s co-defendants — Arron Jones, Lori Melton, Anna Moore and Dail Owens — were dismissed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer E. Wells, who cited “newly obtained information” in the orders for dismissal.

At the time of dismissal, Melton’s defense attorney said, “The case was not worth prosecuting,” as defense had proven the prescriptions written by Bunch were legitimate.

A fifth co-defendant, Justin Mixon, agreed to a plea deal from the DOJ last year and was expected to testify against Bunch during a trial that had been scheduled this month.

Information about Bunch’s sentence, if any sentence has been handed down at all, was unavailable.