Outsiders come to parish to score prescription drugs

Subject allegedly attempted to obtain controlled substances with forged prescriptions

Two subjects residing outside of St. Charles Parish have been arrested after attempting to obtain prescription drugs with fraudulent prescriptions.

On June 20, Sherri Borne, 26443 April Ln., Ponchatoula, was arrested and charged with forgery, attempting to obtain a controlled substance by forgery (8 cts.), possession of a schedule II controlled substance to wit hydrocodone, possession of a schedule IV controlled substance to wit Xanax and a St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office attachment following an attempt to obtain prescription drugs from CVS Pharmacy in Destrehan with a forged prescription.

According to the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, Borne presented prescriptions to the pharmacist for 2 or more controlled substances. After observing the prescription, the pharmacist became suspicious of their validity. The pharmacist then informed Borne that the store would fill her prescriptions during which time the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office was contacted.

Upon arrival, deputies interviewed Borne and after searching her purse, located controlled substances in several different bottles containing, 29 Soma, 88 Soma, 2 hydrocodone, 8 Percocets, 8 Xanax and 20 Valium. All of which were thought to have been obtained through fraudulent means.

In another forgery arrest, Duane Moss, 7705 Richard St., Metairie, was arrested and charged with prohibited acts: all schedules after he allegedly attempted to fill a fraudulent prescription of Percocet, Soma and Xanax at Destrehan Discount Pharmacy. The pharmacist at the Destrehan drug store grew suspicious after noticing the high number of pills allegedly prescribed to the subject. Moss attempted to fill fraudulent prescriptions for 140 Percocet, 140 Soma and 56 Xanax.

After informing the subject that it would take a while to fill his prescriptions, the pharmacist contacted the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office. Deputies responded to the scene and located the subject's vehicle at which time they interviewed the driver of the vehicle and the forgery suspect. The driver of the vehicle stated he knew nothing about the forgery but was then arrested after deputies located marijuana in his possession.

In both cases, the prescription blanks were apparently obtained from Cargille Medical Center, operating in Mandeville. According to a representative from the doctor's office, a prescription pad was stolen from the office despite the medical center’s existing security measures. Since the theft of the prescription pad, measures have been taken to prevent these thefts from occurring in the future.

The medical center’s representitive went on to say, "This is a problem for all medical practices. We have sense put prescriptions pads under lock and key. We encourage pharmacies to check ID's and prescription histories of patients seeking controlled substances. In a case where a patient sees more than one doctor for controlled substances, as soon as we are notified, they are discharged from our office."

Officials have speculated that the two forgery arrests are not linked but rather the blank prescription slips were sold individually on the street. After obtaining the blanks slips, the would be forgers fill out the slips and attempt to obtain prescriptions from drug stores.

"These subjects can be very crafty in creating prescriptions. They either steal them from a doctor's office or create them on a computer. We applaud the pharmacies in St. Charles Parish for paying attention and taking these cases seriously," said Sgt. Dwayne LeGrange of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office.