A 53-year-old Owatonna Clinic nurse from Hartland was charged in Freeborn County District Court on Thursday for one charge of aggravated forgery, a felony.

According to court documents, Sue Ann Peterson allegedly forged signatures on 267 prescriptions for her or her husband from Jan. 8 through Dec. 10. The prescriptions totaled 12,003 pills or tablets.

Those prescriptions were found on records from Walgreens, Snyder Drug, Curt’s Pharmacy, ShopKo, Hy-Vee, Sterling Drug and Wal-Mart in Albert Lea, documents state. They included pills such as Hydrocodone-APAP, Vicodin, Tramadol HCL, Methotrexate, Folic Acid, Keflex, Ultram, Prednisone, Azithromycin and others.

Court documents state that during the week of Dec. 1, Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Corey Farris received a call from a local pharmacist regarding an allegation that Peterson had been submitting many prescriptions for different drugs at pharmacies in Freeborn County and other counties in Minnesota.

Farris questioned as to whether the doctor’s signature had been verified, records state.

“The pharmacist said that the doctor’s office had been called and that a female who claimed to be the signing doctor said that the defendant and her husband have a rare medical issue and that the prescriptions were valid,” documents state. “The pharmacist wondered whether the female was actually the doctor but didn’t know with any confidence.”

Later, on Dec. 11, authorities conducted search warrants at seven local pharmacies, during which prescription records of Peterson and her husband’s names were obtained.

A search warrant was then obtained for records at the doctor’s office at the Owatonna Clinic, and “there were no records at the clinic showing that the doctor named on the prescriptions had prepared any of the prescriptions found at the local pharmacies,” court records stated.

Farris then interviewed the doctor, who said Peterson is her nurse.

Documents state that at first the doctor was reluctant to talk about the nurse, but then she later said that she had not written any prescriptions for Peterson or Peterson’s husband.

“She did not think that she had even seen the defendant’s husband as a patient,” court records state.

Another search warrant was then executed at Peterson’s residence found in Hartland and about 20 prescription bottles were found.

When Farris arrested Peterson at the Owatonna Clinic, “she called her husband and apologized to him saying that she knew it must be a big shock to him.”

Her husband was not charged.

The charge against Peterson carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.