Eight allegedly involved in prescription fraud
EL PASO, Texas – The Texas Department of Public Safety reports eight people were arrested in September who are believed to be involved in prescription fraud.
A stolen doctor’s pad reportedly led investigators to what they are calling an organized prescription drug ring operating in El Paso.
ABC 7 obtained court documents stating some of those arrested were allegedly using scripts belonging to Dr. Hector Lopez.
According to investigators one woman used the fake scripts at a west El Paso Walgreen’s and the Medicine Shoppe in central El Paso.
Juan Sandoval was working the counter at the Medicine Shoppe pharmacy when a customer handed him a prescription for hydrocodone.
The prescription had come from a pad belonging to a Dr. Hector Lopez and something did not look right to a pharmacy technician.
The technician suspected the physician’s signature did not look familiar. She looked up some other prescriptions and discovered it was not the doctor’s signature. A quick call to the doctor’s office confirmed the suspicion.
DPS investigators identify the woman who turned in the prescription as Laura Llynn Waller.
Store employees say she took off without the pain medication, but the pharmacy held on to the prescription and turned it over to DPS.
It’s this type of alleged abuse that is having a ripple effect on doctors and their patients.
“We only have so many choices now, they have taken so many things off the market. Very little is available without a special prescription, and doctors are reluctant to issue that as freely as they once did,” employee Martha Mosher.
Pharmacy employees said other red flags for potential fraud include people who want to pay for their prescriptions with cash and claim they do not have any insurance. Credit cards and insurance information leave an electronic trail.
As of September, DPS turned the department’s monitoring duties over to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy.
“That allows the DPS to do more investigative work instead of following pieces of paper,” said Mosher.
Pharmacy employees like Juan Sandoval are doing their part as well to stop the abuse of prescription pain pills.
“It’s a red flag for us when they don’t want to park in the front or they just sit here and ask how long is it going to take? 5 minutes, 10 minutes, can we get it ready? So, right away we can tell,” Sandoval said.
The El Paso Sheriff’s Office reports that the following individuals were arrested, and are charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and possession of controlled substances by fraud:
Dr. Harold Morris Block Jr., 78 Emanuel Cardenas-Valle, 21 Crystal Yvette Gomez, 30 Charles Ethan Milner, 22 Laura Lynn Waller, 29 Alfonso Gil III, 36 Elizabeth Alaniz Fattorini, 47 Gustavo Gutierrez, 55
The DPS Highway Patrol, United States Marshals Service, El Paso Police Department, El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration assisted in the operation.
The mugshot for Crystal Yvette Gomez was not provided. See the slideshow below to view the mugshots.
