Pain pill ringleader sentenced to 15 years in prison

Circuit Judge Dan Ballou sentenced the ringleader of an alleged prescription drug ring to 15 years in prison Monday afternoon, and has scheduled a Sept. 15 trial date for the eight remaining defendants in the case.

On Feb. 1, Tonya Thacker, 26, of Williamsburg, pleaded guilty to five counts of theft of a prescription blank, five counts of trafficking in a prescription blank, and five counts of trafficking in a controlled substance. She also pled guilty to one count of committing or conspiring to commit first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance by fraud and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud "in which the criminal syndicate was engaging in on a continual basis" from June 1, 2007, through Aug. 1, 2009.

Ballou rejected a request by Thacker’s attorney, David Jorjani, that his client receive probation.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble said that the biggest reason for the stiff sentence is the nature of the crime.

"She stole a whole pad of prescription blanks from a local doctor, and she was writing forged prescriptions on those blanks," Trimble said.

"She was the ring leader. She had the prescription pads. None of these people had ever gone to the doctor that she was forging the name on. From that standpoint, we felt like that she warranted the sentence that she received."

The people receiving the forged prescriptions allegedly took them to a drug store, filled the prescriptions, and gave Thacker half of the pills, Trimble said.

"She was providing the blanks. It was thousands upon thousands of highly addictive pain pills that got onto the street as a result of her activity, so we felt it was serious and deserving of a stiffer penalty than normal," Trimble said.