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4 charged with passing phony prescriptions

Sheriff's authorities say they used stolen information to get oxycodone tablets.

By Times Staff Writer
Published October 2, 2007

Pinellas County sheriff's officials have arrested four North Pinellas residents on charges that they passed more than a dozen fraudulent prescriptions for the powerful and addictive painkiller oxycodone.

Arrested last week were Christina Helena Fortune, Georgia Meghan Walters, Ian Patrick Browne and Tret Patrick Leanes. All are in their 20s.

Sheriff's officials said detectives began investigating tips last week that several people were passing fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone at pharmacies, including CVS, Walgreens and the pharmacy at the Boot Ranch Target.

The four used the medical identification of a local doctor to create fraudulent prescriptions and used other stolen identification to create the patient information on the prescriptions, sheriff's officials said.

The four passed up to 16 bogus prescriptions, receiving up to 180 30-milligram doses of oxycodone at a time, officials said. On the street, officials said, one tablet could be sold for $30.

Sheriff's officials described Leanes as the "informal coordinator" of the group. For each prescription passed, the person committing the fraud could keep about a third of the pills to use, sell or trade, officials said.

All four were being held at the Pinellas County Jail Monday on a variety of drug-related charges:

Leanes, 23, of 324 Phlox Drive, Palm Harbor was being held in lieu of $175,313 bail.

Browne, 24, of 180 Lifestyles Boulevard, Palm Harbor was being held in lieu of $242,500 bail.

Fortune, 25, of 3725 Woodridge Place, Palm Harbor, was being held in lieu of $40,150 bail.

Walters, 20, of 1013 Bay Vista Ave., Tarpon Springs, was being held without bail because she also faced a charge of violating probation on a charge of obtaining a controlled substanceby fraud.

[Last modified October 1, 2007, 21:41:05]