Police Say Serial Fake Prescription Suspect Targeted EG CVS

A man arrested for passing fake Oxycodone prescriptions in Johnston and Warwick recently could be facing additional charges out of East Greenwich after he allegedly committed similar crimes at the CVS on Main Street.

Police said Herbert Holmes, 49, has been implicated in 20 other similar crimes in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Holmes was arrested on July 14 in connection with two incidents in June at CVS stores in Johnston, including one in which he was accompanied by a still-unidentified white male in his 30s.

On July 16, a doctor at Kent Hospital contacted East Greenwich Police to report that seven forged prescriptions had been filled out with him as the prescribing physicians, including two at the EG CVS on Main Street.

The incidents in EG occurred in April and May and Holmes allegedly acquired 135 pills of Oxycodone in all.

At the CVS, the pharmacist told police he remembered the customer and recognized him as Holmes based on his picture broadcast on the news.

The pharmacist said he was "certain" that the customer was Holmes, who reportedly has no teeth.

The case was forwarded to the detective division and both incidents would result in a felony charge of obtaining a controlled substance under false pretenses.

Holmes' most-recent crimes apparently occurred while he was out on bail on identical charges stemming from a March arrest by South Kingstown Police. He pleaded no contest to one count on July 2 and was sentenced to a year of probation and was ordered to obtain substance abuse counseling.

A second charge was dismissed.

Holmes is currently being held without bail as a probation violator at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston.

Court records show Holmes has a long criminal past with charges of delivering cocaine, assault, shoplifting, drug dealing and prescription fraud dating back to the 1990s.