Another defendant pleaded not guilty to two charges against her in the state district court case related to the federal multistate prescription drug conspiracy allegedly orchestrated by a Casper doctor and his wife.

Kathy Marie Hill pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy to deliver Schedule II and Schedule IV drugs during her arraignment before Natrona County District Court Judge Daniel Forgey.

Hill remains free on bond, and a trial date will be set later.

At least eight of 10 other defendants whose cases have been bound over for trial have pleaded not guilty.

Five other defendants have been named in the prescription drug conspiracy, and some of them also have been linked to heroin distribution.

Local, state and federal agencies discovered the defendants during the investigation of Dr. Shakeel Kahn and his wife, Lyn, who are charged in federal court with multiple counts, according to the criminal information document filed in Natrona County Circuit Court.

There are four counts: conspiracy to deliver a Schedule II controlled substance (oxycodone and oxycontin); conspiracy to deliver a Schedule IV controlled substance -- (the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam, the generic name for Xanax); and two counts of conspiracy to deliver heroin.

The 20-page affidavit filed by an agent with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation says the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating Kahn in last year after reports he was prescribing abnormally excessive amounts of controlled substances, mostly opiates, in Natrona County. The DEA found people would travel from Fremont County and as far away as Massachusetts to obtain prescriptions for $500 in cash.

The Kahns were arrested at their home in Casper on Nov. 30.

As the DEA's investigation progressed, the DCI learned from a patient of Kahn that people would pay $500 in cash a month to him for whatever prescription they wanted, as long as they signed a contract stating they were not wearing a wire, working with law enforcement, and promising to never call the doctor a drug dealer.

Shakeel Kahn, Lyn Kahn, Paul Beland, and Shakeel Kahn's brother, Nabeel, remain in custody awaiting trial in federal court.

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