TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a Gadsden County woman was sentenced to four months in jail followed by five years of probation after she pleaded no contest to charges that she abused her job at Big Bend Hospice of Gadsden County to fraudulently obtain controlled substances. Donna Cain Gatch pled no contest to 12 counts of fraudulently obtaining controlled substances and one count of grand theft. Gatch was also ordered to pay restitution to Big Bend Hospice, costs of investigation, court costs, and fines.

Gatch, 56, was arrested in October after investigators with the Diversion Response Team determined she was using her patients’ names to obtain more than 50 unauthorized controlled substances prescriptions. After phoning in the fraudulent prescriptions, Gatch personally picked up the prescriptions and allowed the pharmacies to charge Big Bend Hospice for the cost.

Gatch was prosecuted by attorneys for the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit who were specially designated for the case by the State Attorney’s Office for the Second Judicial Circuit. The Diversion Response Team is a task force of agencies formed to combat illegal trade in pharmaceutical drugs. Participating agencies include the Attorney General’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Department of Health, and the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration.