Kentucky nurse took money for prescriptions without seeing patients

A Kentucky nurse has admitted taking cash to write prescriptions for people without examining them or even seeing them.

Sara B. Parman, 47, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in London to a charge of conspiracy to distribute pills outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.

Parman, 47, is an advance practice registered nurse who owned Parachute Recovery Centers LLC in London, according to her plea agreement.

Parman hired another woman, identified in the plea agreement as K.M., to run the center. K.M. was addicted to methamphetamine and a state court judge had ordered her into treatment with Parman, according to the court record.

At some point, Parman’s practice devolved so that “customers/patients” could meet with her or K.M., pay $300 cash and get a prescription without being seen or treated by a health care provider, according to the plea agreement.

Those prescriptions were mainly for alprazolam. Xanax is one common brand of the anti-anxiety drug.

Many clients at the center also began getting prescriptions in the names of other people. Customers could give Parman or K.M. a list of people and a cash payment for each, and Parman would write alprazolam prescriptions in their names, according to her plea agreement.

Parman also authorized prescriptions for amphetamine/dextroamphetamine, a drug to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, for K.M., “thereby perpetuating her addiction,” Parman’s plea agreement says.

In May 2021, Kentucky State Police use a witness to buy three prescriptions from Parman.

The witness met Parman at the home of Parman’s boyfriend in Clay County and gave her three names and $900, and the nurse called in prescriptions to pharmacies for them.

One pharmacy wouldn’t fill a prescription for one person, so Parman called the witness and asked for another name to use, according to the plea agreement.

The conspiracy charge against Parman is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. She is to be sentenced in October.