NEW CASTLE — The attorney for a former state lawmaker says the official will plead guilty to charges he got altered prescriptions filled at Western Pennsylvania pharmacies.

Fifty-two-year-old former state Rep. Frank LaGrotta has been charged with changing prescriptions for the anti-anxiety drug Xanax at pharmacies in Beaver and Lawrence counties last year. Police say LaGrotta changed the prescriptions so he could get more pills than were prescribed.

LaGrotta’s attorney Stephen Colafella says LaGrotta will plead guilty later today to charges from both counties before a Lawrence County judge.

LaGrotta lost the Democratic primary in his 2006 re-election bid in the 10th House District, which included Slippery Rock borough and township in Butler County. He was still on probation for his 2008 conviction on conflict of interest charges when the drug charges were filed last year, prompting a Dauphin County judge to put him back on house arrest until the drug charges are resolved.