HARRISBURG — Four Central Pennsylvania suspects have been arrested in a conspiracy to write and fill fake prescriptions for nearly 3,000 Oxycodone pills, Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced in a press release Thursday.
Girley Levon Livingston, 35, of Lancaster, and Arielle Rue, 27, of Harrisburg, conspired to unlawfully acquire Oxycodone by using a prescription pad fraudulently obtained from a psychiatrist in Harrisburg, where Rue worked as an office assistant, Shaprio said. They solicited other people — including Tyana Kane, 20, of New Cumberland, and Samantha Negron, 33, of York, to join the conspiracy.
“We are committed to prosecuting drug dealers, whether they are on street corners or staffing doctors’ offices,” said Shapiro in the release announcing the charges. “You can’t get away with forging and illegally filling prescriptions for thousands of pills without facing justice. As Attorney General, I’ll continue to pursue anyone who illegally obtains prescription drugs.”
While working as an office assistant for the Harrisburg psychiatrist, Shapiro’s office said, Rue fraudulently wrote numerous Oxycodone prescriptions, which were filled by other persons, including Livingston, Kane and Negron.
The investigation began in 2016, when a nurse practitioner reported a patient being prescribed Oxycodone from the psychiatrist under what appeared to be suspicious circumstances. This led detectives to access the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program database, where they learned that 44 “patients” of the psychiatrist had filled Oxycodone prescriptions over a two-year period.
Detectives visited the pharmacies where the prescriptions were filled and obtained video footage showing the Oxycodone prescriptions were fraudulently filled by persons who were not patients of the psychiatrist.
In some of the cases, Rue tampered with medical records to make it appear as though these persons were patients. She also verified false prescriptions with local pharmacies on at least four occasions.
Livingston, Rue, Kane and Negron are charged with a felony: acquisition or obtaining possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge, along with other related charges.
Livingstone, Rue and Kane have been taken into custody, and bail was set at $100,000 for each defendant. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 28. Negron remains at large. The defendants will be prosecuted by the Office of Attorney General.
“Thanks to strong law enforcement cooperation, this fraudulent prescription ring was identified and shut down,” Shapiro said. “I want to thank the Cumberland County Drug Task Force and Susquehanna Township Police for all their collaboration with our agents and prosecutors. It makes a difference in their communities.
