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NORTH OGDEN — A Roy woman is in jail, accused of forging hundreds of prescriptions for narcotics. Police say she was able write all the prescriptions herself, thanks to getting into a doctor's computer.
In the course of several months of investigation with the DEA and Utah's Insurance Fraud Division, investigators say Lori Hoskins, once an administrative assistant at Intermountain North Ogden Clinic, was able to get her boss's login to a prescriptions program, getting herself tens of thousands of pills and covering her tracks in the process
"At some point, she gained access to an older computer system, and was able to obtain the password for the doctor," said Armand Glick, director of the Utah Insurance Division Fraud Department.
The numbers are surprising, even for investigators.
"I don't know that we've determined where those pills were going — if they were all being used personally or being distributed to others," said Glick.
Investigators said Hoskins wrote nearly 260 prescriptions, totaling close to 62,000 pills and almost $26,000 in insurance payouts.
"(This) causes all of our insurance rates to go up to some extent, especially those that were in the particular program that the defendant was enrolled in," Glick said.
According to an arrest affidavit, some of the prescriptions were written in relative's names, while Hoskins picked them up herself. In a text message, investigators say Hoskins apologized to her mother in-law, saying, "This is something I could go to jail for," and "I'm really sorry … I can't believe I did this."
The text message also claims the prescriptions were obtained for her husband's struggles with back pain.
Hoskins has since been fired from the clinic and is being held at the Weber County Jail, facing several charges of insurance fraud, identity theft and illegally obtaining controlled substances.
Contributing: Xoel Cardenas
