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FRAMINGHAM – A medical assistant brought a plate of homemade lasagna to an elderly patient, but authorities say it wasn’t an act of generosity – it was part of an effort to scam the elderly woman out of her OxyContin pills.
Police arrested Elizabeth Sanchez, 38, of Framingham, on Wednesday, after she admitted to taking the prescription pain medication for herself, police spokesman Lt. Stephen Cronin said on Friday.
On Tuesday, a doctor from the Charles River Medical Group on Union Avenue reported the medication theft. He said Sanchez was a medical assistant and he was alerted by his patient’s son about the theft.
The victim is an elderly woman who was prescribed the pain medication. In December, Sanchez gave the woman 30 OxyContin pills, not the 90 she was supposed to receive, Cronin said.
“She (Sanchez) told the woman she would bring her the remaining 60 pills when her own prescription was filled,” Cronin said.
A few weeks later, Sanchez showed up at the woman’s home with a plate of homemade lasagna. When she arrived, the woman’s son was home. The son told police he was suspicious, because Sanchez spent more than an hour and a half making “awkward” small talk, hinting that she wanted to speak to the elderly woman alone, the lieutenant said.
The son said he was suspicious, so he didn’t leave them alone, except to walk the dog. When he came back in, Sanchez and the elderly woman were in the bathroom together with the door closed.
“(The son) listened at the door and could hear her (Sanchez) telling the woman she had serious back issues and asked (the elderly woman) if she had more pills she could have,” Cronin said.
The son immediately contacted the doctor, who asked him to bring in his mother’s prescription. It appeared that the elderly woman only had 26 out of the 120 pills that were prescribed to her, while Sanchez took the rest, Cronin said. The doctor told police he immediately fired Sanchez and then reported the theft on Tuesday.
Police questioned Sanchez. At first, she denied doing anything wrong, but then blamed her own doctor.
“She said she has severe back pain,” said Cronin. “She said her doctor was trying to wean her off of OxyContin and wanted her to do injections or have surgery and neither of these was acceptable for her. She was supposed to take one pill every six hours, but she took them much more often and ran out. She said she was sorry she did it.”
Police arrested Sanchez, of 51B Beaver Terrace Circle, on Wednesday around noon. They charged her with obtaining a drug by fraud and larceny of a controlled substance by false pretense.
In Framingham District Court on Wednesday, Judge Jennifer Stark released Sanchez without bail. She is due back in court on March 23 for a pretrial conference.
Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or [email protected]. For up-to-date crime news, follow Norman Miller on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.