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Two medical assistants and a boyfriend to one of them are facing organized crime charges for allegedly forging more than 100 prescriptions for the pain-treating narcotic hydrocodone by using information from their Shenandoah employer.
N. Yareli Maya, 25, of Spring, J. Mendez, 25, of Houston, and J. Alverto Beltran, 27, of Houston, have been charged with organized criminal activity, a first-degree felony.
Maya and Mendez, worked as medical assistants from office suites located at 129 Vision Park. The pair took prescription pads from the offices of Dr. Sachin Chandrasenan and Dr. Duyen Tran, who practice at the building. They forged multiple prescriptions, with the help of Beltran, to purchase and sell Norco-brand hydrocodone, according to an affidavit.
Maya admitted to a Shenandoah Police Department detective how she, Mendez and Beltran carried out the forgery using forms bearing the two doctors’ names. Some of the forged prescriptions used Texas Department of Public Safety forms. A boyfriend to Mendez, Beltran was previously taken into custody for attempting to pass a forged prescription for 100 Norco tablets at a Shenadoah Walgreens pharmacy, charging documents state.
An audit at one of the doctor’s offices found 100 potential forged prescriptions, many filled at a Walgreens in Shenandoah. The detective reviewed Maya’s mobile phone texting conversations between the two women discussing the pickup and delivery of the drug. In the texts, Maya instructs Mendez on what terminology to use to successfully forge the prescriptions, court records show.
The detective also found multiple empty prescription drug bottles with Maya and Mendez’s names, along with other names, as well as prescription forms bearing the names of the two doctors used for the forged prescriptions, according to the affidavit.
The investigation began when one of the doctors and other office staff members confronted Maya about suspicions they had about her possibly forging prescriptions and she revealed her backpack contained prescription forms with the doctor’s name, charging documents state.
Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Tamara Holland explained the trio are charged with this specific offense because more than two people participated in the alleged criminal activity. Joe Nichols, a drug diversion investigator at the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, helped the Shenandoah Police detective on the case.