Monday, June 7, 2010
Charges Expected In Prescription Fraud Investigation
Charges are expected to be forthcoming in a prescription fraud investigation undertaken by members of the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department’s Crime Suppression Unit last month.
Drug agents were first notified of the case after a pharmacist at Rite Aid Pharmacy on North Locust Avenue became suspicious about a prescription call-in.
The caller had identified herself as working for a doctor who is employed at Wayne County Medical, and indicated she wished to call in a prescription for 60-count, 10 mg Ambien pills for a a certain woman.
Although the caller gave her telephone number verbally, the pharmacist reported it did not match the number that was showing on Caller ID. In addition, a fax number the caller gave so that they could confirm the prescription with the physician’s office, was not operational.
“Due to it not being a confirmed forgery,” reports show that the pharmacist filled the prescription and notified the unit. Members then made their way to the store to set up surveillance. They report, however, that the woman had not picked up the prescription by the time the pharmacy closed at 9:00 p.m.
Agents were notified the following day that the woman’s husband had picked up the prescription. Pharmacy workers were able, however, to obtain his driver license and license plates numbers.
In following days agents confirmed that the doctor in question was employed at Wayne County Medical Center. Although he told agents he had seen the woman as a patient approximately one year before while he was employed out of Hohenwald, he indicated he had written her no prescription since that time.
Agents report they checked with area pharmacies and discovered multiple prescriptions had been filled for the woman, all listing the same doctor as the prescribing physician. All of the prescriptions were for the medications Ambien and Soma.
A check of the Controlled Substance Monitoring Report revealed that the woman had seen 14 different physicians within the past year, and had prescriptions filled at 19 different pharmacies. There were times, agents report, when she had the same medication, prescribed by different doctors, filled only a couple of days apart.
The matter remains under investigation at the current time. Charges are expected to be issued forthwith.
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