YOUNGSTOWN License is on the line for druggist

To defraud the insurance company, the pharmacist made it look like he had refilled prescriptions, investigators said.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Pharmacist Richard Petrella won't go to prison for forging prescriptions at Dick's McGuffey Pharmacy -- but he may see his license revoked.
Petrella, who pleaded no contest to five counts of illegal processing of drug documents and five counts of dangerous drug distribution, has to appear Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for sentencing.
He faces a maximum of 12 months in prison and a $2,500 fine on each of the processing counts and 18 months and $5,000 fine on each of the drug counts. A prison term, however, is not presumed necessary, court papers show.
Petrella's plea agreement indicates that the state, represented by Robert E. Duffrin, an assistant county prosecutor, will recommend probation to Judge Jack Durkin. Petrella and his lawyer, Gregg A. Rossi, could not be reached.
Licensing issue: Next week, the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy in Columbus will issue its order regarding Petrella's license, which has been suspended since October. The punishment ranges from nothing to license revocation, Tim Benedict, OSBP assistant executive director, said Tuesday.
The pharmacy, at 790 N. Garland Ave., also has its license at stake, Benedict said. Another pharmacist has filled in, he said.
Petrella has agreed to a $38,000 forfeiture, the cost of the investigation. Of that, the OSBP gets $26,030; the prosecutor's office claims $11,400; and the Columbiana County Drug Task Force takes $570.
George Pavlich, an OSBP agent, the Youngstown Police Department vice squad and Mahoning Valley Drug Task Force investigated the case.
Pavlich's report shows that the investigation ran from July 1998 to August 2000.
"He wasn't putting pills on the street," said Patrolman Thomas Malone, a member of the vice squad. "He was refilling prescriptions for people or making it look like he was."
What's behind charges: Because of redundancy, only a portion of the fraud was documented and there's no telling how much money the insurance company paid for fraudulent claims, Malone said. The penalty would be the same had more charges been brought.
Malone said most of the customers were elderly, some of whom took expensive heart medication. In these situations, Petrella would refill the prescriptions when they ran out and the customers would think he had called their doctor for approval.
The doctors, Malone said, became upset because heart patients, who need monitoring, would not schedule appointments. The doctors had no way of gauging their patients' progress or deterioration.
Benedict said many doctors prescribe only a 15-day supply of pills. After a pharmacist fills the prescription, refills must come by mail order from the person's health-care provider, he said.
Petrella filled an inordinate amount of 15-day prescriptions, which alerted the insurance company, Benedict said.
In other cases, he filed claims for prescriptions as if he'd filled them and, by doing so, committed fraud, Malone said.