Feds announce charges in Pittsburgh-area prescription fraud
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh have charged 18 people in 13 separate indictments with fraudulently obtaining prescription painkillers from government insurance programs then re-selling them on the street.
Most of the indictments unsealed Friday deal with illegal prescriptions for oxycodone and oxymorphone, two commonly abused prescription painkillers.
Some of the suspects are already in custody while others were being rounded up Friday.
Most were from Pittsburgh or its nearby suburbs, though some were from Armstrong County, about 20 miles northeast of the city and other suburbs including Gibsonia, North Versailles and the Moon Township area.
The pills were generally resold to addicts.