re: Animal hospital owner accused of using dead dog’s name to obtain prescription drugs.

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There is some accountability on the part of the pharmacies who filled oxycodone prescriptions for a dog. There is almost no accepted veterinary use of that particular opiate in dogs and especially combined with the benzodiazepine.

The pharmacist had to try really hard to fill these shitty prescriptions. There would’ve been lots of red flags to override.

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Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Chris Pierre said the alleged scheme was revealed when Walgreens pharmacy on Walker Road in Avon Lake called the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, about "questionable" oxycodone prescriptions Taylor was writing for Nieto's dead pet. Oxycodone is a prescription painkiller that can be legally prescribed but also abused. The prescriptions for that and alprazolam, an anti-anxiety medication commonly known by the brand name Xanax, were being written in the name of Punkin, a dog. Pierre said this was odd because Punkin had been "put to sleep" — euthanized, or humanely killed — on July 27, 2024. Despite Punkin being dead,

Taylor and Nieto allegedly continued to fill prescriptions in Punkin's name between Aug. 10, 2024, and June 7, 2025. There were 23 separate instances where prescriptions for either oxycodone or alprazolam were written using Taylor's prescription pad and Punkin's name, Pierre said. More than 2,100 oxycodone pills and 120 alprazolam pills were prescribed.

The prescriptions were filled mostly at the Walgreens but also at least once at both the Walgreens and the CVS pharmacy on Lear Road on the same day, Feb. 18, 2025, according to Taylor and Nieto's indictments. In one instance, both Taylor and Nieto went to the Walgreens on May 14, 2025, to fill two prescriptions, one for 30 alprazolam and one for 90 oxycodone pills. That prompted pharmacy staff to call the DEA because they found it odd that Taylor, the prescribing doctor, "would be there with the patient and that Taylor paid" for the prescription, Pierre said.

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