AUBURN - An Auburn dentist pleaded guilty Tuesday morning in Cayuga County Court to the criminal sale of a controlled prescription drug.

Gilda Jusino-Delpozo, 47, of 19 Cayuga St., Auburn, originally faced eight separate felony drug charges related to making false prescriptions. She admitted to writing prescriptions for the pain medications Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Valium outside the scope of her dental practice for her common-law husband William Whitney Sr., in June 2005.

Jusino-Delpozo said she was worried her husband would become addicted to the medicine his neurologist had prescribed for severe migraines, so she wrote the prescriptions in order to control Whitney's medication.

Jusino-Delpozo said she used her prescription pads from Auburn Dental Associates at 80 North St., to purchase medication from pharmacies at Wal-Mart, Wegmans and Kinney Drugs.

Jusino-Delpozo was also employed as a dentist at Auburn Correctional Facility where she met her husband, who worked as a corrections officer.

Jusino-Delpozo could receive a five-year shock probation term, which includes a short stay at the Cayuga County jail, or 300 hours of community service working at a dental clinic.