TRAVERSE CITY — A woman who police believe stole a prescription pad from a doctor’s office and used it to obtain drugs faces a criminal charge.
Susan T. Allington, 58, of Lake Leelanau, is charged with a single felony count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. She was arraigned on the charge Thursday.
Detectives with the Traverse Narcotics Team, a drug task force comprised of officers from several area agencies, said Allington took a prescription pad from a local doctor’s office and passed or attempted to pass forged prescriptions for painkillers at pharmacies in Meijer and Target, among other locations.
She was not a patient at the doctor’s office, police reports indicate. She told police she pocketed it from a counter when she took her daughter to the office to pick up records.
She used the stolen pad because her regular doctor sometimes didn’t come to work, she said. When asked by an officer, she said she passed “in the neighborhood of 12 to 15” fake prescriptions, reports indicate.
The ruse was up after a Target pharmacist grew suspicious when Allington asked the pharmacist to not bill her insurance company. The pharmacist contacted the doctor, who said he didn’t write the prescription. The pharmacist then called police.
Grand Traverse Undersheriff Nathan Alger said prescription pad theft is less common that it used to be, in part because doctor’s offices are more careful about securing them and also because many prescriptions are sent electronically.
Alger wasn’t familiar with Allington or the details of her case. But he said people who develop addictions to prescription drugs will do anything they can to get their hands on them.
Allington declined comment.
Region
Woman faces drug charges
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