Penn Township nurse practitioner to serve jail sentence for fake prescriptions

A Penn Township nurse practitioner who pleaded guilty last summer to forging prescriptions for thousands of pain pills said two decades of drug addiction led to professional and personal ruin.

He asked for leniency from a Westmoreland County judge at his sentencing Thursday.

“I am very remorseful for my actions and what I did was totally wrong. I never profited from this and in fact it cost me deeply, financially. My house is in foreclosure and I take it day-by-day right now,” said Joseph G. Sapp during a sentencing hearing on Thursday.

Sapp, 56, pleaded guilty in August to 10 counts including drug offenses, conspiracy, identity theft and forgery. Police said Sapp, an out-of-work licensed nurse practitioner, wrote fake prescriptions for oxycodone, a powerful painkiller. He enlisted another person to fill the prescriptions at nearly two dozen pharmacies in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Fayette and Washington counties, according to police.

A former volunteer firefighter and paramedic, Sapp pleaded with the judge to impose a sentence that included no jail time to allow him to help care for his autistic son and deal with health issues that will require him to have hip replacement surgery.

Defense attorney Ansley Stell Westbrook II argued that Sapp faces a mandatory 10-year suspension of his nursing license, all but ending his medical career and has since been treated for addiction and mental health issues that led to his leaving a suicide note found by investigators during a search of his home.

Sapp has been in recovery nearly a year for his addiction, which started about 20 years ago and began a legal prescription for painkillers, he said.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears sentenced Sapp serve 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail and perform 100 hours of community service. He also Sapp serve an additional eight years on probation including a four-year stint on house arrest.

“You’ve done a lot of good, working as a volunteer and taking care of your family and you’ve taken drug addiction head on. However, to sentence you to no incarceration is a bridge too far, but I don’t see a purpose in sending you to state prison,” Mears said.

Sapp was ordered to report to the Westmoreland County Prison on Feb. 1 to begin serving his jail sentence.

Prosecutors asked the judge to impose a sentence within standard guidelines of at least 48 months in state prison.

Curtis A. Stewart, 56, of North Huntingdon, the man police said helped Sapp secure the drugs, was charged in August with similar offenses and is scheduled to appear Nov. 19 for a preliminary hearing in Penn Township. Police contend Sapp drove Stewart from a New Stanton hotel to pharmacies to redeem fake prescriptions at area pharmacies.