Elaborate prescription forgery ring busted


November 4, 2011 at 8:39a.m.

Elaborate prescription forgery ring busted

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office says it’s broken up a sophisticated drug ring that relied on forgery to obtain painkillers in a nine-county scam.

A grand jury recommended charges against nine people who authorities say obtained thousands of pills with a street value of nearly $500,000 by forging prescriptions using security paper obtained online.

Attorney General Linda Kelly says the two alleged ringleaders began using computers to forge prescriptions starting in 2007. The alleged scheme then ramped up when prosecutors say one of the men obtained tamper-resistant prescription paper used by doctors.

Authorities say at least 20 doctors had their names attached to forged prescriptions for Percocet and Oxycodone.

Officials say the scam included prescriptions filled in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon, York, Berks, Franklin, Lancaster, Montgomery, and Schuylkill counties.