Five New Jersey residents allegedly conspired to burglarize medical offices. A state grand jury has indicted them for stealing prescription pads and forging prescriptions, using stolen identities to get promethazine with codeine and acquiring a cough syrup that’s used for its opioid content. 

“These defendants conspired to unlawfully gain entry to doctors’ offices, steal prescription blanks, and forge physicians’ signatures, in order to acquire a cough syrup commonly used as an ingredient in a dangerous narcotic cocktail,” First Assistant Attorney General Lyndsay V. Ruotolo said. “This alleged conspiracy involved the use of fraud to further fuel the opioid epidemic.”

The five were indicted on an 80-count charge. The theft scheme is alleged to have spanned 11 counties. 

“Medical offices in various parts of the state, including Wayne, Morristown and Bridgewater, were targeted for burglary while pharmacists across the state were misled by these defendants into filling invalid prescriptions,” said interim insurance fraud prosecutor Al Garcia. “Anyone who engages in criminal, deceitful behavior to obtain drugs, particularly on a scale this vast, must be held accountable.”