Park Forest, IL—(ENEWSPF)— Police arrested a woman who allegedly gave a false prescription to a pharmacist.
Officers responded to a call from employees at Walgreens, 15 S. Orchard, on Friday, April 4 advising them at a customer had allegedly dropped off a false prescription for Hydrocodone, a narcotic drug related to codeine with similar abuse potential. The first call to SouthCom was made at approximately 8:40 p.m.
When the call came in, Commander Coe advised Walgreens to call 911 when the customer returned. Police received a phone call about 10 minutes later that a customer had come into the store to purchase the medicine.
When police arrived on the scene, Officer Mannino spoke with Walgreens manager Garry Thomas who stated that a woman had just purchased and received the medicine and was allowed into the women’s washroom by employees. Officer Mannino and Commander Coe knocked on the washroom door and announced that they were police. The manager opened washroom door for the officers, and they observed a fully clothed woman, later identified as Bettye R. Wilson, 48, 106 W. 19th St., Chicago Heights, standing in one of the stalls of the washroom with the stall door open. Wilson was advised to come out of the washroom, but stated that she had to finish using the facilities. She was permitted to use the washroom while Officer Mannino and Commander Coe stood outside of the washroom.
When she was finished, Officer Mannino recovered a prescription bottle that Wilson had in her hand. Wilson stated that she was picking up the medicine for her niece who lives in Park Forest, according to police. Commander Coe observed that the bottle was only about ¾ full, according to police. The bottle was labeled as 100 pills of Hydrocodone. The bottle was turned over to a pharmacist, who counted only 79 pills in the bottle, according to police.
Pharmacists at Walgreens stated that a warning message came up on the computer indicating that phony prescriptions were being written for 100 Lortab, a drug similar to Hydrocordone, using the name of a doctor in Hammond, IN.
Police contacted the doctor’s office on April 5 and faxed a copy of the prescription to the office. The operations manager at the clinic said the faxed prescription was not the prescription pad type the doctor used and that the signature on the prescription was not his, according to police. Furthermore, the doctor had been in the hospital for 3 weeks and has not written a prescription for the past 3 years, according to police.
Bettye R. Wilson, 48, 106 W. 19th St., Chicago Heights, was arrested on April 4 and charged with one felony charge of unlawful acquisition of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance
