Couple accused of prescription fraud

Couple accused of prescription fraud

A Brooksville couple has been accused of using phony prescriptions the woman stole from her boss, a local doctor, to obtain drugs.

Rebecca Merillo, 22, and Patrick Merillo, 25, of 8479 Cobb Road, were arrested Tuesday after staffers at the Sunshine Wellness Pharmacy contacted authorities over concerns about several prescriptions for the pain-killing drug Roxicodone.

The pharmacy worker told the Hernando County Sheriff's Office that "Rebecca'' was authorizing prescriptions from Dr. R.L. Rao to Patrick Merillo for 120 tablets of the drug.

Rao told deputies that the prescriptions were fraudulent.

According to an arrest report, Rebecca Merillo told investigators that she took a prescription form from Rao, filled it out and gave it to her husband. She also admitted authorizing the prescription when the pharmacy called Rao's office for verification.

Merillo told deputies her husband sold the pills because the couple needed money, the report states. Patrick Merillo denied selling the drugs, according to the report.

Rebecca and Patrick Merillo were each arrested on charges of conspiracy to traffic in drugs and were being held at the Hernando County jail on $50,000 bond each.