Stolen Prescription Pad Used to Get 6,400 Painkillers, Police Say

Three Philadelphia men have been arrested for using a stolen prescription pad to fill out 36 fraudulent orders of painkillers, obtaining and selling 6,450 30mg tablets of oxycodone, based on a criminal complaint filed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.

Mark Wing, 40 and William Graboyes, 30, have been charged with more than 300 counts of insurance fraud, identity theft, acquiring controlled substances with intent to distribute and more. A warrant has been issued for Michael Ruggiero, but he is still at large, according to Lower Southampton District Judge Robert Waltman. Waltman expects Ruggiero to be brought in by next Wednesday.

According to the affidavit, an investigator from Independence Blue Cross filed a complaint with the Attorney General's office in January after making more than $1,600 in repayments for prescription orders he suspected were fraudulent. The prescriptions were submitted on paperwork belonging to Dr. Jeffrey Kleeman, the criminal complaint says.

According to court records, Ruggiero called the investigators a few days later and said he had stolen a prescription pad from his uncle, Dr. Kleeman, in 2010 and used it to fill out and sign prescriptions, then gave them to Wing, Graboyes and a woman who has not been charged.

Graboyes and Wing obtained the pills from pharmacies in the Philadelphia area, including one in Lower Southampton that is now closed, police say. The pair then sold the oxycodone at $30 a pill, gaining more than $190,000, according to the affidavit.

Ruggiero told investigators that he would use the fraudulent prescriptions as rent payment to Graboyes, his roommate.

Wing and Graboyes have been sent to Bucks County prison with bail set at $5,000 for the former, $50,000 for the latter. Waltman said Wing received the lighter bail because he did not have any prior arrests.