One man and a woman, who called in prescriptions masquerading as employees of a doctor’s office and picked up the drugs under false pretenses, are now under arrest and facing multiple fraud charges, Middletown Township police say.
Gabrielle Rinko, 23 of Yardley, and Robert Brown, 27, of Levittown, were arrested Friday night around 7:30 p.m. at Rite Aid Pharmacy in the 100 block of North Flowers Road attempting to pick up prescriptions they allegedly called into the pharmacy, a probable cause affidavit says.
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Officers had been in pharmacy earlier in the week on a unrelated matter when a Rite Aid employee informed police of the prescription fraud, telling authorities, two scripts were phoned in by a person claiming to be an employee of a local doctor, court records say. The prescriptions were allegedly picked up by the defendants at the drive through window.
On October 15, Detective David Strother interviewed employees of the medical practice where he learned that “several prescriptions” had been called into area pharmacies. under different aliases. Staff at the practice provided two names, Rinko and Brown as “known to be involved” in the scheme, court records say.
Police gathered evidence of the scam from medical office personnel. In turn, the office doctor’s informed Rite Aid’s corporate office, directing any and all called in prescription claims be substantiated by checking with the medical practice prior to authorizing the claim, court documents say.
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On October 18 at 7:30 p.m., Strother was called by the doctor’s office who was informed by the pharmacist at Rite Aid that a prescription was just called in claiming to be from the doctor’s office, records say. Strother was alerted and was told office wasn’t open that day, police say.
Police were advised that a white female, Rinko, in a dark colored Pontiac with a white male, Brown, in the passenger seat were attempting to pick up the mixtures at the pharmacy drive through window. The Rite Aid pharmacist, according to police, attempted to stall the suspects by telling it would take a few minutes and they should go to the back of line, meanwhile patrol units were directed to take Rink and Brown into custody, which they did.
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Police confirmed with the pharmacist that Rinko was there allegedly attempting to pick up a scammed bottle of 45 2 milligram Xanax tablets and she provided an insurance card in her own name to pay for prescription, court records say.
According to police, Rinko told them that a third man, who is not yet facing charges, called in the fraudulent medical requests and believed that she and brown would allegedly be paid by him. Rinko also admitted to police that she pulled off the same scam sometime ago at another pharmacy in Middletown.
Rinko was charged with criminal attempt to acquire possession of a controlled substance, conspiracy to possess a controlled substance, criminal attempt to falsify an insurance claim and conspiracy to falsify an insurance claim. All the charges were felonies and she was jailed on 10 percent of $20,000.
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Brown was charged with criminal attempt to possess a controlled substance and conspiracy to falsify an insurance claim. He was sent to jail in lieu of 10 percent of $25,000.
They are both scheduled for a preliminary hearing on October 31 in front of Middletown District Court Judge John J.Kelly.
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Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
