SLEEP CLINIC EMPLOYEE AT CENTER OF DRUG ARRESTS

Records say DEA got a tip that suspect was forging prescriptions.

An Austin sleep clinic employee is facing drug trafficking charges after allegedly prescribing drugs to 19 people illegally, resulting in several arrests this week.

The Drug Enforcement Administration in May began investigating Kristy Hargrove, an employee at Austin Neurology and Sleep Associates on West 38th Street in Central Austin, after receiving a tip from Capital Area Crime Stoppers that she was writing forged prescriptions, court documents show.

An investigation revealed that Hargrove was using the DEA registration number of a doctor who works at the clinic without his permission and had written prescriptions for 19 people on a monthly basis, none of whom were patients, the documents said. The people would fill the prescriptions and return them “in exchange for keeping some of the controlled substances or cash payments,” court documents detailing the investigation show.

Seven people have been arrested so far on suspicion of filling prescriptions that Hargrove wrote for pain medication, including Anthony Taylor, 45; Dora Perez, 20; Janis Edwards, 40; Krystal Haycock, 31; Latanya Britton, 37; Raymon Roberts, 44; and Terrance Clark, 42, according to arrest affidavits filed in Travis County state District Court on Tuesday.

They are being charged with obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, a second-degree felony punishable with up to 20 years in prison.

Only Britton and Edwards were in the Travis County Jail on Wednesday afternoon, each being held on $5,000 bail, records show.

In total, the joint investigation by Pflugerville police, Austin police and the DEA has resulted in 11 warrants for fraudulent prescriptions, Austin police said.

Hargrove is facing federal charges in the Western District of Texas for her role in the scheme, the affidavits said.