"Don't get us in trouble," Dr. James Kauffman's nurse practitioner told him.
Barbara Greenling testified at the trial of Ferdinand Augello on Thursday, talking about the doctor's involvement in questionable actions, including the compounding creams case that has so far resulted in 20 pleas by those including teachers, firefighters and a doctor.
He was never charged in that case, but Greenling said, "I don't know the extent of his involvement, but he was involved."
The defense called for a mistrial in Day 9 of the murder and racketeering trial, citing letters confiscated from the home of John "The Egyptian" Kachbalian, which were allegedly sent to him from Augello.
The letters mention defense attorney Mary Linehan. Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury said he would wait until he has a chance to review the letters before he rules on whether they can be put into evidence.
He allegedly signed the letters as a Pagan "1-percenter," a term that gives not to the 99 percent of people who follow the rules and the 1 percent who make up their own rules.
Those tattooed biker types were not the normal type of patient Dr. Kauffman's practice saw, his nurse practitioner testified.
But then one Friday, as she went to close up for the shortened day same normally worked alone, a "biker-looking guy" came to the door followed by the doctor.
"I met him at the VFW and he needed help," he told Greenling.
The man, who Greenling later found was Glenn Seeler, did not have an appointment or a patient file.
"Don't get us in trouble," she told him. He said he wouldn't.
After that, there were more biker types that became patients, she said.
Seeler's wife, Cheryl Pizza, was one of them.
Pizza testified that she started getting oxycontin prescriptions from the doctor after about a month or so as a patient.
She never got the prescription, she said.
Kauffman would hand the paper to her husband, and they would go get it filled. Then they would drive to Augello's sign shop.
She would stay outside in the car while Seeler did whatever he was doing inside, she said.
Pagan business was never conducted in front of her, she said. "Because I was a woman."
