BROOKLYN WOMAN CHARGED IN SCHEME WITH STEALING $220,000 FROM MEDICAID BY FORGING PRESCRIPTIONS; OTHERS ALSO ARRESTED

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, joined by Human Resources Administration Commissioner Jason A. Turner, announced today the arrest of a 48 year old Brooklyn woman on charges of stealing more than $220,000 from Medicaid by forging prescriptions for various drugs and causing them to be billed to Medicaid. Fifteen other individuals have also been charged in connection with the case.

District Attorney Brown identified the principal defendant as Rosa Rivera of 965 Jefferson Avenue in Brooklyn. She is charged with grand larceny, welfare fraud, criminal diversion of prescription medication, forgery (275 counts), and criminal use of a public benefit card (40 counts). She faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. The other defendants are charged with various counts of grand larceny and welfare fraud and face up to seven years if convicted.

District Attorney Brown said, "The theft of limited public resources is an offense against all of us and will be vigorously prosecuted by this office."

Commissioner Turner, said "These arrests continue to demonstrate that HRA's Bureau of Fraud Investigation will vigorously pursue fraud in the Medicaid program to ensure the program's integrity. We will also continue to support legislation to toughen penalties for drug diversion in New York State, including proposals to enhance penalties for individuals who lend their Medicaid cards."

According to District Attorney Brown from October 1997 to March 1999, the defendant is alleged to have "rented" at least 40 Medicaid cards from various New York City Medicaid recipients for from $10 to $40 a card. She also allegedly obtained blank prescription slips on the street and wrote prescriptions for drugs such as Epogen, Combivir, Prozac, Procardia and Zoloft, among others, in the Medicaid cardholders' names, forging doctors' signatures on the prescription slips. She then allegedly filled the prescriptions at various pharmacies including the El Jay Pharmacy in Queens. She is charged with forging 275 prescriptions, the majority of which were for Epogen, a medication used to treat anemia caused by kidney disease and as a treatment for cancer. The District Attorney said that Epogen costs Medicaid up to $1730 for a one month prescription and that it is used on the street to enhance the "high" of more common drugs like cocaine.

Assistant District Attorney Lourdes Ventura of the District Attorney's Economic Crimes Bureau, which is under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Brian Mich and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney Peter A. Crusco, is in charge of the case.

The defendants were arrested by Det. Anne Loftus of the Queens District Attorney's Office Squad which is under the command of Captain Harold J. Knorr. The investigation leading up to the arrests was conducted by Investigator Phil Schaffroth of HRA's Bureau of Fraud Investigation, Prescription Drug Fraud Unit and investigators of the New York State Department of Health and the FDA Office of Criminal Investigation.

It should be noted that an arrest is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.