After a year in prison for narcotics, a former Waupaca man is now accused of filling forged prescriptions at a local pharmacy.
Joseph O. Holtane, 36, Stevens Point, is charged with two misdemeanor counts of obtaining a prescription drug by fraud and one felony count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.
On Feb. 11, Waupaca Police Officer Nicole Hahn spoke with a pharmacist at Kmart, who said Holtane had filled three prescriptions with what appeared to be forged physician signatures.
Dated from Oct. 24, 2014, the prescriptions were for doxycycline mono, an antibiotic; etodolac, an anti-inflamatory; and oxycodone, a narcotic pain reliever.
Hahn contacted the physician, who said he had not written Holtane a prescription for oxycodone and had not written anybody a prescription for doxycycline for 10 years.
According to the criminal complaint, Holtane said he could not remember forging the prescriptions in October because his memory was fuzzy from that time.
The same day Hahn was speaking with the Kmart pharmacist, Holtane appeared in Waupaca County Circuit Court and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of obtaining a prescription drug through fraud and theft. He was placed on two years of probation.
On May 9, 2013, Holtane was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being convicted of a felony narcotics charge. He was also placed on three years of probation after being convicted of felony charges of burglary with a weapon, felon in possession of a firearm and bail jumping.
In May 2014, the Department of Corrections placed Holtane on extended supervision after he completed the earned release program.
If convicted of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, Holtane could be sentenced for up to six years in prison, plus another two years because he has been charged as a habitual criminal.