Woman Arrested After Passing Fake Prescription at CVS

A 49-year-old West Warwick woman is facing a felony charge after she allegedly tried to get a schedule II narcotic from a North Kingstown CVS by passing a doctored prescription.

Police said Patricia Colleen Lambert, 49, of 12 Oak Ridge Drive, West Warwick, took a real prescription for hydrocodone that belonged to another person, pasted on her name, and made a photocopy.

Lambert then attempted to pass the photocopy at the CVS at 6495 Post Road at around 9:50 a.m. on Dec. 31.

The pharmacist immediately noticed that Lambert’s name was flagged in the computer system with a note that all prescriptions should be verified, especially narcotics, police said.

The pharmacist then noticed that on the prescription, Lambert’s name was in a different font than the font for the drug. There was a copy line under the medical provider’s information and a Rx symbol was mis-aligned.

Pharmacy staff then checked with the medical provider listed on the prescription, Coastal Medical in Narragansett, and confirmed that they had never treated or prescribed drugs to Lambert.

Lambert was sitting in the pharmacy waiting area when police arrived and she admitted to making a copy of a real prescription in an effort to obtain narcotics, police said.

Lambert was charged with falsely representing herself to obtain a controlled substance and is free on personal recognizance until a Jan. 13 probation violation hearing due to a prior domestic charge out of West Warwick.

An attorney general screening conference for the new charge is scheduled for Feb. 10.

Police noted that Lambert had reportedly attempted to pass the same fake prescription at a CVS in Warwick before the North Kingstown incident.

When the Warwick pharmacy refused to fill it, she “insisted on them returning it to her and she left,” a police report stated.

Warwick Police were notified of that incident.