A Carmel nurse practitioner is facing serious allegations after being arrested this week on various drug-related charges. Katherine N. Curtis, 34, has been accused of overprescribing medications and engaging in prescription fraud, which brings into question the integrity of the healthcare profession. FOX59/CBS4 reports that Curtis was booked on preliminary charges that include the unlawful dispensation of a controlled substance and dealing in a controlled substance by a practitioner.
According to a joint investigation by the DEA, the Carmel Police Department, and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, detailed by WISH-TV, Curtis is believed to have overprescribed various drugs and used other practitioners’ identities to write fraudulent scripts. This eight-month investigation was spawned by information provided by several pharmacies questioning Curtis’s prescription practices. In her downfall, more than a dozen individuals have come forward to claim they were scammed by Curtis, a licensed nurse practitioner and the owner of Reclaim Wellness and Mind & Body Healthcare LLC in Carmel.
Warrants were served at Curtis’s home and business on Thursday, and she was arrested with charges that include, but may not be limited to, possession of a narcotic drug, dealing by a licensed practitioner, identity deception, and obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. As WTHR relays, IMPD Chief Chris Bailey expressed pride in the team responsible for uncovering the scheme, stating, "Prescription fraud undermines the trust placed in healthcare professionals and puts our community at serious risk."
Curtis’s license had previously been suspended, with documentation confirming it as null and void, and she is now being held at the Hamilton County jail. The full scope of the charges she will face is pending a decision by the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.
