PHOENIX — Five people have been arrested, one has been served with summons and four others are wanted after a Grand Jury indicted 11 people accused of being involved in an opioid ring that stole the identities of nurse practitioners and doctors in order to write fake prescriptions, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich says.
The bust stems from March 2018 when the AG's office Arizona received a complaint from a nurse practitioner who believed that his information may have been used to write fake prescriptions for Oxycodone.
During the investrigation, two of the arrested, David Edward Bektashi and Emily Ruth Richardson were allegedly found in possession of fake prescriptions from 16 different nurse practitioners and doctors.
Investigators also found 36 separate transactions where the defendants accused of filling fraudulent prescriptions for opioids.
Along with the AG's office, the Chandler Police Department, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Mesa Police Department also assisted.
The five arrested (on the top row of the above photo from right to left) are Emily Ruth Richardson, 38; Julie Ann Adams, 37; Cynthia Meeks Murphy, 68; Bryan James Kaminskas, 33; and Michael Kenneth Taflinger, 42.
Anthony J. Harms, 44, has been served with summons. Latisha Shelice Stennis, 24; Jeannine Gomez, 40; De’Aundray J. Frazier, 30; and Patrick Lee Hargett, 41, are all on the run and wanted, the AG's office says.
The defendants face 125 felony counts, including:
-Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices
-Participating in a Criminal Syndicate
- Assisting a Criminal Syndicate
-Conspiracy, Aggravated Taking the Identity of Another
-Acquisition of Narcotic Drugs by Fraud
-Forgery
-Taking the Identity of Another
-Acquisition of Dangerous Drugs by Fraud
-Possession of Dangerous Drugs
-Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
