Newton Citizen

COVINGTON - Covington Police have arrested a woman they say has been obtaining prescriptions by calling a drug store and pretending to be a nurse from a local physician's office.

Michele Ann Hutnick, 42, of 160 Orchard Drive has been arrested and charged with four counts of obtaining dangerous drugs by fraud or forgery in the first degree.

CVS pharmacy at 4183 U.S. Highway 278 called the CPD on Saturday to report that a woman representing herself as a nurse had called in two prescriptions about 4:45 p.m. Friday and said they were for Hutnick.

The pharmacist was suspicious and contacted the doctor's office and was told no one there had phoned in the prescriptions. She looked back into Hutnick's records and found that three other prescriptions had been filled that supposedly came from the same nurse.

The pharmacist told officers she would alert them when Hutnick picked up the prescriptions. She also said that according to computer records, Hutnick may have tried the same scam at other CVS locations.

Officer Eric Almond went to CVS when Hutnick attempted to pick up the prescriptions and told her why he was there.

According to an incident report completed by Almond, Hutnick told him, "I called it in because I don't have the money to get the medicine I need." She told the officer she had lost her job and does not have health insurance. She admitted, however, she was prepared to pay $100 for the medication she was trying to pick up that day.

She said she knew the name of the nurse who worked in the doctor's office and used it when falsifying information for the drug store.

Barbara Knowles can be reached at barbara.knowles@newtoncitizen.com.