RIVERSIDE - A former doctor with a felony record for multiple acts of identity theft and forgery stemming from an addiction to painkillers was sentenced today to five years behind bars for violating her probation and attempting to fraudulently obtain prescription drugs.

"You have to face up to the music at some point," Riverside County Superior Court Judge Helios Hernandez said before imposing the sentence on Lisa Michele Barden. "Today is that day for this defendant."

Barden, 43, pleaded guilty July 10 to identity theft, falsifying a prescription, forgery, misdemeanor check fraud and making false representations about her professional status in connection with a May 19 incident at the Main Street Pharmacy at 823 Main St. in Corona, where she was living at the time.

According to Corona police, Barden, whose license to practice medicine was revoked last April, used another physician's information to acquire pills, but pharmacy staff recognized her and called 911 after she left the location.

The one-time Coachella Valley-area gynecologist was on probation at the time of the crime. In December 2010, she pleaded guilty to 272 felony counts, including forging prescriptions, illegally possessing controlled substances, identity theft and burglary.

The charges were filed following a 22-month investigation by the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and the Riverside Regional Pharmaceutical Narcotic Enforcement Team that culminated in Barden's arrest in January 2009.

According to investigators, Barden illegally acquired more than 30,000 pills, primarily hydrocodone and oxycodone -- drugs most often used to contain pain, but which also induce euphoria and reduce anxiety.

The defendant, also known as Lisa Degner, worked at several Palm Springs medical clinics. She visited 43 pharmacies on 131 occasions to get drugs, stealing 15 patients' identities -- some of them women whose babies she had delivered. She stole five colleagues' prescription drug pads, forging their names to obtain medications, according to the government.

The judge in that case sentenced Barden to seven years, eight months in prison, but suspended the sentence and placed Advertisement

[ Murrieta Volkswagen ] her on probation for five years in return for the defendant's promise to complete drug rehabilitation therapy and 1,000 hours community service.

Deputy District Attorney Sara Stockwell today argued for Hernandez to re- impose the previous sentence and make Barden serve the time.

"The defendant has demonstrated that she is incapable of being on probation," Stockwell said. "She was back to her old tricks again ... She's been given multiple opportunities to clean up her life and hasn't."

The prosecutor pointed out that some victims continue to suffer the consequences of the ex-doctor's actions. A D.A.'s office representative read a statement from one, Heather Halvorsen, who said she has forgiven Barden but firmly believes the defendant should be incarcerated.

"I have no trust or faith in the medical field after what Lisa Barden has done," Halvorsen wrote.

According to Stockwell, the doctor in the Corona case cannot write a prescription now without it being flagged by the state.

"Somebody has to call his office every time to verify he actually signed the prescription," Stockwell said.

Deputy Public Defender Jason Kralovic told the judge Barden was "very remorseful and serious about turning the corner in her life."

He blamed her "misguided judgment" on the drug addiction, which her parents, in a letter to the court, said began during her first marriage, when she was physically abused by her then-spouse.

Kralovic asked for a continuation of probation for his client with intense drug addiction therapy. But Hernandez denied the request, saying the "repeated conduct and level of sophistication" that Barden displayed in committing her crimes justified jail time.

The judge re-imposed the original sentence from the Coachella Valley case and added eight months for the most recent conviction. However, to comply with state realignment legislation aimed at reducing prison overcrowding, Hernandez split the sentence, giving Barden five years in county jail and two years of supervised release.

The defendant was also given 21 months credit, effectively reducing her sentence to three years, three months behind bars.