Prescription Fraud

Can I be charged criminally for writing a fraudulent prescription?

Many of the people arrested for prescription fraud include doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants and other medical personnel who have access to medication and prescription forms. For these people, it is not just their freedom at stake, but it is also their career that is at stake. In Houston, the likely scenario and one which I have dealt with before, is the Pain Management Clinic that is the target of an undercover police investigation which results in the arrest of a clinic employee for prescribing Vicodin, Xanax, and Soma for no medical purpose. Most times the undercover officer alleges that the prescription was written by the healthcare provider without first preforming an exam.

How much time can I get for writing a fraudulent prescription?

Criminal charges involving prescription drugs are just as serious as those involving marijuana and cocaine. A conviction for Prescription Fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in the Texas Department of Corrections, and/or up to $10,000.00 in fines.

Texas Health and Safety Code. Texas Controlled Substances Act. Section 481.129. OFFENSE: FRAUD. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly: (1) distributes as a registrant or dispenser a controlled substance listed in Schedule I or II, unless the person distributes the controlled substance under an order form as required by Section 481.069;(2) uses in the course of manufacturing, prescribing, or distributing a controlled substance a registration number that is fictitious, revoked, suspended, or issued to another person; (3) issues a prescription bearing a forged or fictitious signature; (4) uses a prescription issued to another person to prescribe a Schedule II controlled substance; (5) possesses, obtains, or attempts to possess or obtain a controlled substance or an increased quantity of a controlled substance: (A) by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, or subterfuge; (B) through use of a fraudulent prescription form; or (C) through use of a fraudulent oral or telephonically communicated prescription; or (6) furnishes false or fraudulent material information in or omits material information from an application, report, record, or other document required to be kept or filed under this chapter. (b)A person commits an offense if the person knowingly or intentionally: (1)makes, distributes, or possesses a punch, die, plate, stone, or other thing designed to print, imprint, or reproduce an actual or simulated trademark, trade name, or other identifying mark, imprint, or device of another on a controlled substance or the container or label of a container for a controlled substance, so as to make the controlled substance a counterfeit substance; or (2) manufactures, delivers, or possesses with intent to deliver a counterfeit substance. (c) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly or intentionally: (1) delivers a prescription or a prescription form for other than a valid medical purpose in the course of professional practice; or (2) possesses a prescription for a controlled substance or a prescription form unless the prescription or prescription form is possessed: (A) during the manufacturing or distribution process; (B) by a practitioner, practitioner’s agent, or an institutional practitioner for a valid medical purpose during the course of professional practice; (C) by a pharmacist or agent of a pharmacy during the professional practice of pharmacy; (D) under a practitioner’s order made by the practitioner for a valid medical purpose in the course of professional practice; or (E) by an officer or investigator authorized to enforce this chapter within the scope of the officer’s or investigator’s official duties. (d) An offense under Subsection (a) is: (1) a felony of the second degree if the controlled substance that is the subject of the offense is listed in Schedule I or II; (2) a felony of the third degree if the controlled substance that is the subject of the offense is listed in Schedule III or IV; and (3) a Class A misdemeanor if the controlled substance that is the subject of the offense is listed in Schedule V. (e) An offense under Subsection (b) is a Class A misdemeanor. (f) An offense under Subsection (c)(1) is: (1) a felony of the second degree if the defendant delivers: (A) a prescription form; or (B) a prescription for a controlled substance listed in Schedule II; and (2) a felony of the third degree if the defendant delivers a prescription for a controlled substance listed in Schedule III, IV, or V. (g) An offense under Subsection (c)(2) is: (1) a state jail felony if the defendant possesses: (A) a prescription form; or (B) a prescription for a controlled substance listed in Schedule II or III; and (2) a Class B misdemeanor if the defendant possesses a prescription for a controlled substance listed in Schedule IV or V.