Malden man charged with RX fraud

SAUGUS – A Malden man has been charged with allegedly trying to fill a fake prescription at Walgreen’s.Jason F. Ricci, 33, of 37 Maplewood St., was charged with uttering a false prescription, fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance, nine counts of possession of a class E substance and writing an improper prescription.He was arraigned Wednesday at Lynn District Court by Judge Ellen Flatley and released on personal recognizance. A pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for May 20.According to court documents, police were notified that Ricci had allegedly passed a fraudulent prescription for 90, 2 mg tablets of Alprazolam (Xanax) at the Walgreen’s Pharmacy located at 1228 Broadway.Upon arrival, the pharmacist told police that on Sunday, Ricci came in around 9 p.m. and allegedly dropped off a prescription, with a hand written signature of the issuing doctor. After taking a close look at it, the pharmacist said she noticed that the name of the drug was incorrectly spelled and that the signature of the doctor “wasn’t even close” to other signatures on prescriptions he had issued in the past. In addition, the doctor’s office told the pharmacist that they didn’t have a record of Ricci being a patient.Surveillance video of Ricci was handed over to the police and a query of his driver’s license, which confirmed the video images matched up with the same person. The pharmacist told police that Ricci allegedly passed the same prescription at another Walgreen’s in Revere and had it filled. Revere police have since charged Ricci with the same offense.Police later caught up with Ricci on Central Street, where he admitted that a woman named Laurie wrote the fake prescription. He alleged that she writes the prescriptions for him in return for pills.During the conversation, police noticed a camouflage bag that was laying on the sidewalk next to Ricci. A total of nine prescription bottles were found inside containing various drugs. Later on in Ricci’s booking, police found a pill cutter, a gun lighter, a piece of a Bic pen with the inside removed, which police allege could be used for possibly snorting the crushed pills.