The person considered the "ringleader" in a prescription drug ring entered a guilty plea in Carbon County court on Monday.

Angela McClain, 43, of Tobyhanna, and formerly of Palmerton, pleaded guilty to all 55 criminal counts filed against her by the state attorney general's office. McClain appeared before President Judge Roger N. Nanovic II on Monday afternoon to enter her plea.McClain previously appeared before Nanovic to enter a plea in the case to one count of acquiring or obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation with all other charges dropped. Nanovic rejected the plea agreement stating at the time that "there is something fundamentally wrong with this agreement."Nanovic noted that other co-defendants in the case had previously entered guilty pleas to all counts filed against them and some have already been sentenced to state prison terms. Nanovic also noted the affidavit of probable cause indicated that McClain was the main person in the ring. She was a nurse for Dr. Edward Manzella of Palmerton and provided the other defendants with forged prescriptions of the drug oxycodone, which were then taken to area pharmacies where they were filled. A total of 5,640 tablets of oxycodone were obtained illegally.Other defendants in the case included Edward Lee Szczesny, 26, of East Stroudsburg; Lee Erick Daniel, 25, of Daytona, Florida; Charles F. Daniel, 27, of Effort; and Jessica Campbell, 26, of Matamoras, Pike County. All have entered guilty pleas to all counts except Campbell. She was scheduled to plead Monday morning but her case was continued due to the illness of her attorney. The matter will be rescheduled.At the time of the first plea proceeding, after rejecting the agreement, Nanovic told defense counsel attorney Steven R. Mills he had two choices, go to trial or return the case to pretrial status. Mills asked the case be sent back for pretrial and the new agreement was then reached.The AG office charged that McClain gave forged prescriptions to her boyfriend, Szczesny. The prescriptions, in some cases, were made out to Charles Daniel, Lee Daniel and Campbell. They were paid between $100 and $200 to fill the prescriptions at the various pharmacies in Carbon, Monroe and Northampton counties. None of the people involved in the case were patients of Manzella.Charles F. Daniel was sentenced in August 2014 to serve 24 to 48 months in a state correctional institution. Szczesny was sentenced to serve 30 to 60 months in a state prison followed by three years of probation. Lee Daniel is awaiting sentencing and has applied for placement in the state's Intermediate Punishment Program. He is currently in a state prison being evaluated for the IPP.McClain pleaded to 25 counts of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, 27 counts of theft, and one count each of possession of a controlled substance, corrupt organization and criminal conspiracy-obtaining prescriptions by fraud. The first 25 counts are all felonies, as is the corrupt organization and conspiracy counts.Nanovic deferred sentencing and ordered the adult probation office to prepare a presentence investigation report.