A Hermitage man was sentenced Oct. 31 to serve from three months to a year in the Mercer County Jail on two separate drug convictions. In both cases, the 30-year-old man had written fake prescriptions for OxyContin, according to court documents.

John M. Antonino, 30, of 2055 Madison St., was charged by the state Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and Drug Control with acquiring a controlled substance by fraud or misrepresentation. Other drug-related charges were dismissed, said a court official.

The first charge stemmed from incidents at a Hermitage pharmacy between August and October 2000, police said. A pharmacist found the number of prescriptions for OxyContin -- seven -- suspicious and checked with the doctor, police said.

OxyContin, an opium derivative, is prescribed as a painkiller, but is often crushed and snorted for illegal use.

The second incident involved getting an insurance company to cover more than $12,000 worth of phony prescriptions for the drug, according to court documents.

Antonino filled the 23 fraudulent prescriptions at RX Partners -- UPMC Horizon, 2199 E. State St., Hermitage, and would receive 60 to 80 pills per prescription, police said.

Using his mother's prescription coverage, Antonino wrote out the phony prescriptions under the name of Dr. Robert Multari of Farrell, gave his mother a $20 co-pay, and had her submit it to her insurer, police said.

The insurance company paid $12,251 in claims for the prescriptions. Multari said he did not prescribe the drugs and Antonino's mother did not know the prescriptions were bogus and only helped her son obtain them because he did not drive, police said.

Though sentenced on each of the charges, Antonino will serve his time concurrently under house arrest and be electronically monitored. He also has to be in a drug rehabilitation program, is subject to random drug testing, must perform 100 hours of community service and repay the UPMC Health Plan $12,251, according to court documents. If he serves less than the maximum term, he will be placed on probation for the remainder of the term.

Antonino also faces two more drug-related charges in Mercer County Common Pleas court, according to a court official.