According to state police documents reviewed by the reporter, a physician at a South Burlington primary care practice wrote prescriptions under three fictitious names and under the name of a friend living in Maine, obtaining at least 288 fraudulent prescriptions for herself between 2004 and 2011. The prescriptions were for Adderall and Vicodin.
The scheme surfaced when a pharmacy called the practice with a question about a prescription written for a patient name that a longtime employee did not recognize. That employee became a confidential informant for the state police Drug Diversion Unit. The physician later admitted to police that she had written prescriptions under fake names, and a trooper traveled to Maine to interview the friend whose name had been used.
The Attorney General's Office prosecuted the case. In 2012 the physician pleaded guilty to one count of prescription fraud and received a four-year deferred sentence with no jail time. The unit's supervisor told the reporter he would have liked to see a stronger outcome and hoped the physician was getting help.
Investigators said the case illustrated a broader pattern: most diversion cases end in probation conditions or plea agreements, with treatment often built into the disposition. They also said pharmacies had become markedly more vigilant, including routinely checking identification, in the years after the case.