St. Pete Medical Office Receptionist Charged in Prescription Fraud Case

Jean Campbell was a receptionist at a St. Petersburg doctor’s office. She was arrested last week by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office on drug charges related to prescription drugs.

Campbell has been charged with four counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and three counts of trafficking in hydrocodone, according to law enforcement. Her bail was set at $159,000, according to jail records.

According to reports, a CVS pharmacist called sheriff’s detectives last Thursday about a number of suspicious prescriptions for hydrocodone, an opiate. When Pinellas detectives investigated, they were led to Campbell.

Campbell allegedly called in at least 15 false prescriptions to a CVS pharmacy using the professional information of the doctor for whom she worked. Altogether, the prescriptions were for about 1,200 hydrocodone pills and 150 alprazolam pills (a.k.a. Xanax), according to the sheriff’s office.

The doctor confirmed that the prescriptions were not written or authorized by him. Initial investigation suggests that Campbell may have begun phoning in unauthorized prescriptions as early as May, according to law enforcement.
The investigation is ongoing.

Prescription drug fraud and trafficking are increasingly common criminal charges in the Tampa Bay area. We’ve seen several large-scale investigations of pain management clinics with allegations of improper prescription and over-prescription – with charges brought against office managers and physicians. We’ve seen pharmacists charged with defrauding the government with false prescriptions for Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement. And we’ve also seen cases like this one where individuals falsify a prescription in order to obtain a controlled substance from a retail pharmacy.

As our society’s obsession and reliance on prescription drugs continues, we will likely see an increase in prescription drug investigations. It is important to obtained experience defense counsel as soon as you believe you are being investigated.