Portsmouth Man Stole Father's Pain Medicine & Replaced Pills with Ibuprofen, Police Allege

PORTSMOUTH, RI—A Portsmouth man is accused of picking up his father's pain medication at a CVS drive-thru window and then stealing the father's Oxycontin and Oxydcodone pills, police said.

Mark Barron Hassan, 23, was arrested on Dec. 21 at 7:01 a.m. after the U.S. Marshal's Service Fugitive Task Force took him into custody at his parent's home.

He was charged with felony larceny of a controlled substance, police said. He was also wanted on two warrants from Superior Court, both for felonies, and one warrant from Second District Court, for a misdemeanor.

According to the police report, Hassan heard his father's prescriptions were ready to be picked up because the pharmacy left an automated voice message on the family's telephone answering machine. He went to the CVS Drive-Thru and signed his mother's name to the paperwork, took the pills, and replaced the Oxycontin with Ibuprofen and the Oxycodone with Dexamethasone.

Initially, he told the family he had picked up the prescriptions but left the pills in a cab. The family checked with the taxi companies. Later, the pill bottles were found at the parents' home with the replacement pills, but not the prescription pain killers.