A Hughson woman was among four individuals indicted by a federal grand jury in a scheme to acquire and sell prescription drugs.

The grand jury returned the indictment Feb. 19, charging Christina Antonia Martinez, 27; Lance Aaron Wilson, 30; and Mona Alicia Chavarin, 43, all of Modesto; and Lenele Maria Nunez, 31, of Hughson, with conspiring to distribute oxycodone and hydrocodone and possession of the same substances on two occasions.

The indictment was unsealed Wednesday and Martinez, Nunez, and Chavarin were arrested Tuesday on the federal charges. Wilson is still being sought for arrest.

According to court documents, as early as Dec. 1, 2013 and until Jan. 13, 2015, the defendants conspired to unlawfully distribute oxycodone and hydrocodone.  Both substances, when legally prescribed for a legitimate medical purpose, are used for the relief of mild to moderate pain and can be habit forming.  However, they are commonly unlawfully abused as recreational drugs and sold illegally.

Nunez was an office manager at Central Valley Pain Management in Modesto and allegedly stole blank prescriptions from the clinic.  The indictment accuses Nunez of providing these prescriptions to Martinez knowing that Martinez would enter false information on them, resulting in fraudulent prescriptions for large quantities of highly addictive, frequently diverted prescription drugs, including oxycodone and hydrocodone. 

Martinez and Wilson would provide these prescriptions to Chavarin, a pharmacy technician employed at a Modesto CVS pharmacy.  Nunez would verify the prescriptions to the pharmacy and Chavarin would provide the filled prescriptions of oxycodone or hydrocodone, or cause others to provide them, to Martinez and Wilson.  Martinez and Wilson would distribute the unlawfully obtained oxycodone and hydrocodone to individuals for whom it had not been prescribed.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Modesto Police Department and the involvement of the Drug Enforcement Administration.