Woman denies prescription charges

A Springfield woman who detectives say posed as nine different doctors, nurses, midwives and physician’s assistants to have prescription pills dispensed to her at pharmacies is facing felony charges following a 10-month investigation.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120908/NEWS02/709089937

Published September 8, 2012 in the Rutland Herald Springfield woman denies prescription charges By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Springfield woman who detectives say posed as nine different doctors, nurses, midwives and physician’s assistants to have prescription pills dispensed to her at pharmacies is facing felony charges following a 10-month investigation. Cheryl Ruzzo, 38, pleaded innocent last week to one count of prescription fraud and one count of falsely authorizing a prescription before she was released from White River Junction criminal court on pre-trial conditions this week. Springfield Detective Patrick Call wrote in an affidavit that the investigation into Ruzzo began in November after a call to the Springfield Pharmacy aroused suspicion. In that instance, the pharmacist told police a woman who identified herself as a gynecologist from Brattleboro called and asked that 224 Vicodin pills and another 30 Ambien pills be prescribed to a member of the Ruzzo family. When the pharmacist asked the “doctor” for the identification number issued to her by the Drug Enforcement Agency the woman on the phone replied, “It must be in the other room. I’ll get it and call you back,” the affidavit stated. When no return call was forthcoming, the detective wrote, the pharmacist called the doctor’s office in Brattleboro where the staff explained that the doctor was on vacation that week. Call wrote that he began to check with other area pharmacies and discovered that one in particular had been filling a variety of prescriptions supposedly for five different members of the Ruzzo family but the staff could only recall Cheryl Ruzzo ever coming in to pick them up. Call added that he spent several months gathering and sorting through pharmacy records and patient history reports for Ruzzo and members of her family who were supposedly being prescribed various medications and he said he then interviewed all nine medical professionals who supposedly had authorized the dispensing of the medications. All nine individuals denied ever having written or called in prescriptions for Vicodin or Ambien to any member of the Ruzzo family, Call wrote. Call said Ruzzo told him she had been placed on Vicodin a decade ago because of a medical condition and then “after a period of time she noticed that she was shortening the time between doses or starting to get sick.” “Cheryl remember calling her physician and making up excuses as to why her prescriptions had to be filled early,” Call wrote, continuing, “She stated things got out of control really quick. She then began to feel really, really sick and did not know what would happen to her physically if she did not have the Vicodin… she stated she was taking between 200 to 300 pills per week.”