Mother, daughter sentenced to prison in drug case

SPRINGFIELD — A Champaign County woman accused in 2003 of collecting more than $30,000 in donations for an illness her then 7-year-old daughter didn’t have was sentenced to 10 months in prison on drug charges Friday.

Teresa L. Milbrandt, 41, of St. Paris, pleaded guilty last month to a charge of deception to obtain a dangerous drug last October. She is accused of obtaining Vicodin using unauthorized prescriptions, according to court documents.

Milbrandt’s daughter, Katie Harding, 24, of Springfield, who was not involved in the leukemia case, was sentenced to 20 months in prison. Harding also pleaded guilty last month to two charges of deception to obtain a dangerous drug.

Milbrandt expressed contrition as she addressed Common Pleas Judge Richard O’Neill prior to sentencing Friday.

“I made a poor choice and I take full responsibility for that,” she said.

Police said Harding, who worked for a local doctor, ordered the prescriptions without the physician’s consent and sent them to various pharmacies to be picked up by Milbrandt, police said.

Though he had recommended probation for Harding to the court, Clark County Assistant Prosecutor Dan Driscoll said both sentences were “appropriate” to the facts of the case.

In 2003, Milbrandt was convicted on grand theft and child endangerment charges and sentenced to 6½ years in prison.

She was released from prison in February of 2010.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0360 or vlough@coxohio.com.

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