A Butler County nurse between 2012 and 2014 allegedly phoned in or wrote prescriptions for herself that were not authorized by two doctors who were treating her for pain and another doctor she worked for, authorities said.

Investigators for the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office on Monday charged Mary Ann Knechtel, 56, of Penn Township with insurance fraud, possession of a controlled substance, forgery and theft by deception.

District Judge Kevin O’Donnell of Butler Township arraigned Knechtel, who waived her preliminary hearing. She was released on her own recognizance.

Knechtel was a registered nurse at UPMC Montefiore hospital in Pittsburgh during the alleged prescription drug fraud scheme, according to court documents. She also was a patient at the UPMC Pain Clinic next to the hospital.

She is accused of calling in numerous fake prescriptions for thousands of pills of hydrocodone and Vicodin under the names of two physicians who worked at the clinic.

For several months between 2012 and 2013, Knechtel also worked at a medical office in Cranberry Township. During that time, documents said, she processed bogus prescriptions with two refills using that doctor’s name.

She used pharmacies in Butler and Buffalo townships to fill the fraudulent prescriptions, authorities said.

Knechtel allegedly billed her Highmark insurance carrier for the fraudulent prescriptions. In all, the insurance provider paid $1,097.

A pharmacist at the Rite Aid in Butler Township eventually discovered Knechtel’s scheme, investigators said, and notified the UPMC Pain Clinic.

Knechtel, when confronted and after being terminated from her job at Montefiore hospital in May 2014, sought help through the Pennsylvania Nurse Peer Assistance Program, documents said.

That assistance program provides help to nurses or nursing students struggling with substance abuse or mental illness.

Investigators in April 2015 interviewed Knechtel, who admitted wrongdoing, documents said.

Knechtel’s attorney, Ansley Westbrook II of Pittsburgh, did not return a telephone call.