Two nurses who worked a Suwannee County nursing facility were arrested Wednesday, accused of several counts of neglect after an investigation found they withheld medication from elderly patients, according to the Florida Attorney General.

Ashley Dawn Fralick, 27, and Melissa Elaine Bowen, 30, were both employed at the Good Samaritan Center Nursing Facility located in Dowling Park.

"Knowing that elderly patients were denied essential medications is heartbreaking," Attorney General Bill McCollum said in a statement. "These victims rightly deserved and expected care and attention, but instead received neglect and abuse."

The Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit began investigating the two women last October after receiving an abuse report from the Florida Department of Children and Families.

The management staff at Good Samaritan had conducted counts of the medications on the nurses' medication carts before and after their shifts. The counts revealed that more than 70 doses of medication were unaccounted for, including medication for pain, depression and high-blood pressure.

Several medications were not provided to patients at all.

Investigators believe Fralick, of Live Oak, and Bowen, of Madison, falsified medication administration records so it appeared that all of their patients received their prescribed medications.

According to Good Samaritan staff, most of the victims lacked the cognitive ability to know they were not given their medications and then alert staff. The facility immediately suspended the two women and notified authorities.

Both women were booked into the Suwannee County jail.

Fralick was charged with 16 counts of neglect of elderly persons, a third-degree felony. If convicted on all counts, she faces up to 80 years in prison and a fine of $80,000.

Bowen is charged with 10 counts of the same charge and faces up to 50 years in prison and a fine of $50,000 if convicted.