MERCER COUNTY — The state Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics has charged five people with being part of a scheme to acquire painkillers by using fake prescriptions.

All told, the scheme netted 3,600 pills of the narcotic OxyContin or its generic or brand name forms, such as oxycodone or Roxicodone, the AG’s office said.

Investigators said they became aware in July that fraudulent prescriptions were being circulated under the name of a Grove City medical practice.

On Sept. 4, Greenville-West Salem Township police informed the AG’s office that someone had tendered a prescription from the doctor’s office at a Hempfield Township pharmacy and was supposed to be returning to pick it up. Shortly afterward, police learned that two Greenville pharmacies had similar prescriptions.

While no one returned to pick up the prescriptions, police obtained surveillance video footage of the person who brought in the prescriptions.

Twenty-four days later, Hermitage police informed the AG’s office of an incident on Sept. 25 in which a man who identified himself as Eric Zahniser brought in a prescription for 90 OxyContin pills and left the pharmacy.

Pharmacy personnel were aware that fraudulent prescriptions had been passed, and checked with the doctor’s office, which confirmed the prescription was a fraud, the AG’s office said.

Although the man never returned, pharmacy personnel reported the incident to police, and told police they believed the man was really Eric Gibson.

Hermitage police compared a photograph of Gibson they obtained from state criminal history files with the surveillance footage, concluding he had tendered the prescriptions in Hempfield and Greenville.

Police obtained a search warrant for Gibson’s apartment at 565 Dutch Lane and seized marijuana, rolling papers and a pipe on Sept. 30.

Gibson, 27, also spilled the beans on the scheme, police said. All but one of the others charged also gave statements corroborating and expanding on Gibson’s story, the AG’s office said.

Carley N. Stella, 25, of 23 Gregg Ave., Grove City, worked at the doctor’s office and stole blank prescriptions, which she turned over to her husband, John J. “Joe” Stella, 27, of 1079 Woodland Place, Sharon, investigator said.

Stella, Gibson and David McFarland, 43, of 513 S. Mercer Ave., Hermitage, would take the prescriptions to pharmacies to fill them, the AG’s office. If the prescriptions were filled, the pills would be turned over to Chad Stinedurf, 28, of 32 Fourth St., Sharpsville, for distribution, investigators said. McFarland told investigators he would keep some of the pills to feed his own addiction.

Stella, Gibson and McFarland often left the pharmacies after dropping off the prescriptions, promising to return shortly, the AG’s office said. If a pharmacy would call the doc’s office to check on the validity of the prescription, Ms. Stella would send a text message to her husband warning him not to return to the pharmacy, investigators said.

Stella also had a police scanner to alert him to whether police had been called, investigators said.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for the former Stella home on Reno Road in Hermitage, and seized an ounce of pot, drug paraphernalia and a scanner.

Stinedurf told investigators he had nothing to do with fake prescriptions. The AG’s office said it seized drug paraphernalia from his house, which Stinedurf’s girlfriend, Nicole M. Kostik, 24, said was hers.

McFarland is Ms. Kostik’s cousin.

Prescriptions were filled in Greenville, Hempfield, Mercer, Sharon, Hermitage, Meadville, New Castle and Niles and Warren, Ohio, investigators said.

Gibson, Stella, Ms. Stella, McFarland and Stinedurf were arraigned Tuesday on numerous charges by District Judge Ronald E. Antos, Farrell, or by District Judge Lorinda L. Hinch, Mercer. Stinedurf was taken to Mercer County Jail after failing to post bond. The others were released after posting bond.

Stella also was charged with endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment for leaving two children, ages 2 and 3, home alone when he was lured out of the house prior to the police search, the AG’s office said.

Gibson stipulated Tuesday that prosecutors could show a crime occurred and that he might have been involved on the AG and Hermitage charges, and an unrelated charge of theft for refusing to return to the owner a cellular telephone he found, and turning it in at a dealer without the memory card.

The preliminary hearings for the Stellas, McFarland and Stinedurf were set for Thursday before Antos.

Ms. Kostik has been sent a summons charging her with possession of drug paraphernalia.