A New Jersey woman was taken into custody on Sept. 15 after she allegedly tried to use fraud to obtain a prescription medication from a pharmacy in Franklin. After police detained her at the pharmacy, the 29-year-old woman received two counts for attempting to obtain a prescription legend drug through deception or fraud and unlicensed practice of medicine. The case does not appear to be related to any suspected drug trafficking operation.
The incident began when an employee at North Country Pharmacy alerted police to a suspicious request for a drug prescription. A pharmacist told police that a phone call had come in from a supposed doctor's office. Doubting the call's validity, the pharmacist called the doctor's office to double check the prescription. An employee then reportedly informed the pharmacist that the prescription had not actually been requested by the doctor's office.
When police arrived at the scene, they found the accused woman waiting for the allegedly fraudulent prescription. Officers detained her, and she was taken to Sussex County Jail. The woman was held on $15,000 bail without the option to pay 10 percent. It was unclear as to how the woman is expected to plead to her charges.
A person who has received criminal charges in a case like this may have been the victim of mistaken identity or a doctor's office mix-up. When disputing the charges, a defendant may argue that a doctor failed to inform all of their office staff after phoning in a valid prescription. An attorney may be able to sort out various information in order to develop a strong argument.
Source: New Jersey Herald , "Woman who tried to get drugs charged", September 16, 2014