McCready Fights Drug Charge

Country singer pleads innocent to allegation of faking prescription to buy OxyContin

By Charlie Amter Aug 24, 2004 4:45 PMTags

Mindy McCready just says no to drugs.

That's the message the country singer sent to her fans Monday after she pleaded innocent to a charge that she faked a prescription for the painkiller OxyContin, popularly known as hillbilly heroin.

While the singer was not present inside Tennessee's Williamson County Court, her attorney entered a not guilty plea--signaling she's willing to fight the charge.

The 28-year-old "A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's Gotta Do)" singer was busted Aug. 5 at her home near Nashville and charged with prescription drug fraud. Prosecutors allege McCready presented a fraudulent 'scrip for OxyContin at a Brentwood, Tennessee, pharmacy on Feb. 12, paid for the drugs and then left. Authorities say McCready was not a patient at the doctor's office from which the prescription emanated.

But McCready disputes the allegations and claims it was all a big mix-up. McReady recently told her side of the story to Tampa radio station WYUU, according to a posting on the fan site mindymccready.com. McCready was quoted as telling the station, "I am not addicted to any drugs. I am not on any painkillers. So, that's the truth. I just want all the fans out there to know that I'm okay. I'm not sick in any way." The singer also said her physician wrote the prescription and that it was legal, even though the pills were not for her.

McCready made her biggest splash in Nashville for her 1996 number one hit, "Guys Do It All the Time." Although her 2002 eponymous Capitol records release has failed to capture the sales numbers McCready generated in the mid-1990s, the singer still maintains a loyal fan base within the country music community.

She is best known to non-country music fans for her 1997 engagement to former Lois & Clark star Dean Cain. McCready was just 21 when the decade-older TV Superman proposed. The couple split a year after their engagement.