A woman who worked as a medical assistant for a Cave City doctor pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges stemming from an investigation into illegal drug activity.

Monica Kinslow pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances and three counts of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Federal prosecutors said Kinslow worked as a medical assistant in Dr. Chandra Reddy’s office when she forged Reddy’s signature on controlled substance prescriptions to obtain painkillers from pharmacies.

The prescriptions were completed with names provided to Kinslow by a co-defendant, Brandon Gordon, who faces the same federal charges as Kinslow, court records said.

“Gordon recruited individuals to fill the controlled substance prescriptions at pharmacies and returned the controlled substances to Gordon,” Kinslow’s plea agreement said. “In return, the individuals were permitted to keep a portion of the pills for payment; Gordon kept a portion of the pills and sold or traded the rest of the pills.”

Some people used their health insurance to pay for the prescriptions for hydrocodone, oxycodone and oxycontin at pharmacies, court records said.

A federal indictment alleged Kinslow and Gordon engaged in the conspiracy from Oct. 1, 2012, to July 24, 2013.

Federal prosecutors recommended an unspecified prison term for Kinslow, and the plea agreement also called for her to pay $414.19 in restitution to insurer Kentucky Spirit.

Gordon was scheduled to plead guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court, but his attorney, Ken Garrett, was unavailable to appear at court.

Under Kinslow’s plea agreement, federal prosecutors will seek to dismiss three counts of aggravated identity theft in exchange for the guilty plea on the remaining counts.

Reddy and his wife, Vinodini Dundumalla Reddy, are also under indictment in the federal investigation.

The couple were charged with two counts of conspiring to commit health care fraud and a count of conspiring to make false statements relating to health care matters.

Dr. Reddy is also charged with conspiring to illegally use a DEA registration number issued to another person.

Dr. Reddy, an internal medicine specialist, is accused of conspiring between Aug. 1, 2010, and Oct. 1, 2013, to have pre-signed controlled substance prescriptions for his nurse practitioners, who did not have DEA registration numbers assigned to them, to use while he was away from his medical practice.

Chandra and Vinodini Reddy are also accused of billing Medicare under Dr. Reddy’s National Provider Identifier for services that were performed by nurse practitioners while Dr. Reddy was out of the office, knowing that Medicare reimburses at a higher rate for services performed by a doctor instead of a nurse practitioner.

They are also alleged to have covered up fraudulent billing by altering patient medical charts ahead of health care benefit plan audits.

Chandra and Vinodini Reddy are scheduled to enter a guilty plea May 7 before U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Stivers.

Prior to the federal charges, Dr. Reddy came under scrutiny from the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, which ordered him in 2010 to complete a boundaries course and have a chaperone while in the presence of female patients after the board investigated a report from the Cave City Police Department that Dr. Reddy inappropriately touched two female patients during examinations and made inappropriate comments to them.

That order was terminated in 2011.

In 2014, the state licensure board indefinitely restricted Dr. Reddy’s medical license, issuing an order forbidding him to prescribe controlled substances.

He regained his ability to prescribe in 2017 after the board amended its order.

The board required him to log all controlled substances prescribed or dispensed, abstain from alcohol and other mood-altering substances except for a documented legitimate medical purpose and complete an educational intervention plan.

According to a copy of the amended order, Dr. Reddy was also subject to periodic, unannounced drug tests as desired by the licensure board.