A Gore woman has been convicted of counterfeiting prescriptions but cannot be named after her attorney announced he would appeal a judge’s decision to deny the suppression of the final name.
Her application for dismissal without conviction was also denied today by Judge Russell Walker in Gore District Court.
In February last year, the woman started working as a contractor in a clinic where she had access to the patient database.
On August 19, she accessed a male patient’s files and used his name to create a prescription for 28 tramadol capsules, with 11 repeats, forging a doctor’s signature.
She offered the prescription to a pharmacy the same day and returned five times over the next five weeks to get a total of 140 capsules.
On September 29, she used another patient’s identity to create a prescription for 60 Codeine capsules, with two repeats, but despite four attempts, she was unable to print the document due to a printer malfunction.
When a clinic employee restarted the printer a few days later, it produced four copies of a counterfeit prescription and the defendant was confronted for her actions on October 5.
When told she would be suspended while an investigation was underway, she immediately resigned.
In December, the woman admitted to forging a prescription to obtain property, using a counterfeit prescription and counterfeiting a prescription.
Counsel Bill Wright told the court that the violation involved small amounts of prescription painkillers and that the defendant had mental health problems.
She had admitted the charges as soon as possible, posed no threat to the community, and rehabilitation was to be the main goal of her sentence.
“There are no victims in this case, in fact the only victim is the defendant.”
Mr Wright filed a request for the woman’s name to be permanently deleted despite understanding that “apparently all of Gore” knew her identity as he was concerned about the impact “bullying” on social media could have have on her mental health.
He resigned because the effects of a conviction on her future employment prospects, ability to travel, obtain insurance and raise financing were disproportionate to the seriousness of the crime.
Judge Walker denied the dismissal request, saying the seriousness of the offense was at least moderate and the consequences of a conviction were “non-specific” or “speculative” in nature.
He also rejected the application for final name suppression, telling the defendant that her insult represented a significant breach of trust.
“I believe that the nature of your offense should be known to potential employers.”
He convicted the woman and, after taking into account her early pleas, addiction problems and steps she had already taken toward rehabilitation, settled on a final sentence of 125 hours of community service and 12 months of supervision.
Judge Walker issued an order to proceed with the preliminary suppression of names, giving Mr. Wright until April 6 to appeal his decision to reject the final suppression of names.