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HARRISBURG — Three registered nurses and a cosmetologist in Luzerne County are among nearly 150 licensed professionals statewide who faced disciplinary action in March, according to state records.
Acting Secretary of State Robert Torres sent a press release Thursday that detailed the discipline against 149 professionals.
Records show all three Luzerne County registered nurses were suspended for substance abuse reasons:
• Cassandra Marie Walker, of White Haven, had her license suspended for “no less than three years retroactive to Sept. 15, 2017,” the release stated.
Court records show Walker’s license was previously suspended in 2015. Her most recent suspension comes from failing to adhere to the conditions of that suspension, as a 2017 urine test showed Walker had been binge drinking. She also failed to submit to other urine tests.
• Rosalie Sawchak, of Swoyersville, had her license indefinitely suspended for no less than three years, with court records showing she suffers from “alcohol use disorder and depressive disorder.”
However, her suspension was immediately stayed, and she was placed on at least three years of probation.
• Rhonda Ashcraft, of Drums, was indefinitely suspended, with her suspension being immediately stayed and replaced with indefinite probation, due to penalties in other states.
She was put on probation by the Ohio Board of Nursing in 2016 after testing positive for methadone. Then, the Kentucky Board of Nursing placed her on probation in September for violating the Ohio probation by taking Tramadol and Lorazepam. Her Ohio license was suspended in March 2017.
Meanwhile, cosmetologist Deborah Rentko, of Wilkes-Barre, was suspended for a year by the state Board of Cosmetology, records say.
Her suspension stems from a 2012 guilty plea to a federal charge of filing a false tax return. She also was ordered to pay a $250 fine to the board.