Medical assistant charged in fraud found guilty of most charges
WAYNESBURG – A medical assistant charged with calling in prescriptions to a pharmacy without a doctor’s consent was found guilty by a Greene County jury Friday of 12 of the 15 counts against her.
Rebecca Louise Raber, 48, of 366 Iron Rock Road, Waynesburg, who worked as a medical assistant at Waynesburg Family Medicine, was found guilty of six of seven counts each of criminal solicitation to commit acquisition and violation of the pharmacy act.
She also was acquitted by the court of one count of criminal conspiracy. The trial was before Judge William Nalitz. Raber will be sentenced following the preparation of a pre-sentence report.
Police allege Raber called in seven prescriptions for Ativan, a controlled substance used to relieve anxiety, for Nancy Horr of Rogersville between Feb. 4 and Nov. 9, 2011.
Horr who led a campaign against illegal drug use following the death of her son of a heroin overdose, also was charged. Horr said she believed Raber, who worked in a doctor’s office, had received the consent of a doctor to prescribe the drugs. She was entered into the accelerated disposition program in March.
Police began investigating the matter after a Giant Eagle pharmacist received a voice mail message Nov. 9, 2011, of a telephone call-in prescription of Ativan for Horr from Waynesburg Family Medicine.
The pharmacist called the doctor’s office and was informed Horr was not a patient at that practice, according to the criminal complaint.
Pharmacy records indicated all eight prescriptions for the drug that had been called in to the pharmacy for Horr came from “Becky” at Waynesburg Family Medicine, police said. The manager at the doctor’s office identified the caller as Raber. Raber was terminated from the office Nov. 10, 2011, police said.