Pharmacist charged with drug offenses gets probation

WARREN — Through tears, Andrea Luchette, 39, of Yankee Run Drive, Masury, apologized to the court for the crimes she committed while working as a pharmacist at Overholt’s Champion Pharmacy.

“I do not offer the court any excuses for my behavior. I am sorry. I let down my profession, and I let down my family,” she said Monday to Judge Peter Kontos of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Kontos said Luchette had no previous criminal record.

Luchette and pharmacist Robert Gaves, 65, of Orchard Street, Newton Falls, pleaded guilty to five counts of complicity to deception to obtain a dangerous drug in March for filling prescriptions for a now-deceased Middlefield pain-management doctor in 2007 and 2008 that were sometimes 10 times higher than the normal dosage.

Judge Kontos sentenced Luchette to five years probation, suspended her driver’s license and ordered her to give 100 hours of community service.

For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Vindicator or vindy.com