WATERVILLE — A China woman was arrested Friday on charges of writing numerous fake prescriptions for narcotics and other drugs while she was employed at a Waterville doctor’s office.

Keeley French, 37, allegedly wrote the prescriptions over nearly a year’s time and picked up the drugs at a pharmacy, according to Waterville Deputy Police Chief Charles Rumsey.

French is charged with 32 counts of felony acquiring drugs by deception, 32 counts of unlawful possession of hydrocodone and 29 counts of misdemeanor acquiring drugs by deception, Rumsey said Monday.

“Obviously, we’re concerned about what happened to those drugs after they left the pharmacy,” Rumsey said.

The investigation started Feb. 3 when police Officer Galen Estes took a report from Dr. Lisa Marraché, a Waterville doctor, regarding a former employee of hers who had been forging prescriptions for herself, according to Rumsey.

French had worked for several years at Marraché’s practice on Silver Street, which now is closed.

“Dr. Marraché had received a phone call from a pharmacist who was questioning a large prescription for Vicodin that had been sent in to the pharmacy,” he said.

Marraché notified police; Rumsey said Estes worked with her and the pharmacist, who was from Hannaford at JFK Plaza, to gather records from between May 2010 and February 2011, when the prescriptions were written.

The prescribed pills included narcotics and non-narcotics, he said.

Rumsey noted Marraché contacted police immediately after realizing there was a problem and was cooperative with police in the investigation.

“There is no indication of any wrongdoing on the part of the doctor’s office,” he said.

Marraché, a former state representative and senator, said Monday she was surprised when the pharmacist contacted her about the prescriptions and shocked to learn that French had been writing prescriptions for herself.

“He was telling me the patient’s name and I said, ‘Are you sure? That’s not a patient,'” Marraché recalled.

She said French had worked in her office six years. It was a small office and patients relied on French, she said.

“To have this happen is heartbreaking,” Marraché said.

She said her patients, many of whom are elderly, loved French.

“I haven’t had the heart to tell them what happened,” she said. “This is a good example of why you need to do e-prescribing now; we did it the old-fashioned way.”

E-prescribing is much safer because only a doctor can approve a prescription, she said.

Marraché’s practice has merged with Elmwood Primary Care; she now works for Waterville Family Practice, she said.

Rumsey said the crime is serious and highlights the problems occurring in the area with abuse of prescription drugs.

He said that, from the beginning of February to the beginning of March, French was aware that she was under investigation.

“Our investigation into what happened with those drugs once she acquired them is still ongoing,” he said.

French is now free on personal recognizance bail, according to Rumsey. She is scheduled to appear in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta on May 24.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com