BUFFALO, N.Y.---U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury returned a 17 count indictment charging Samilyn Olson, 46, of Jamestown, N.Y., with unlawfully distributing oxycodone, obtaining oxycodone through fraud, forgery and subterfuge and conspiring to do so. The conspiracy and distribution counts each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. The remaining counts each carry a maximum sentence of four years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, who is handling the case, stated that Olson is a former nurse at the Veterans Affairs Community Based Outpatient Clinic, in Jamestown provides medical services to VA patients in the area. On eight occasions between May and September 2010, the defendant stole prescription forms from a nurse practitioner at the clinic, forged the nurse practitioner’s name and wrote prescriptions for oxycodone. The prescriptions were then filled by Olson or others at a local pharmacy in Jamestown, New York.
The defendant made an initial appearance this afternoon before Magistrate Judge J. Jeremiah McCarthy and was released.
The Indictment is the result of an investigation on the part of the Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey G. Hughes, Northeast Field Office, the Veterans Affairs Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael Messina, and the Jamestown Police Department, under the direction of Chief Harry Snellings.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
