Mom, Son Charged In Prescription Drug Ring

MENTOR, Ohio - A Mentor mother and son are accused of being the leaders of a prescription drug ring.

Police said the mother, 42-year-old Shari Carter, would call in prescriptions for Vicodin around Lake County, then the pills would be sold on the street for profit.

The former pharmacy technician would pretend to be a medical assistant and call in her own prescriptions using the real identification of a doctor.

But her scheme unfolded when she made a mistake on one of the prescriptions.

"When her treatment ended she just continued on pretending to be the doctor's medical assistant over the phone, calling in large quantities of Vicodin," said Lake County Narcotics Agency Investigator Chris Begley.

A neighbor of the suspects, who didn't want to be identified, was shocked.

"It's rather quiet. We moved here due to the fact it was very low key, not much happens, so it is rather surprising," the neighbor said.

According to police reports, Carter would order large quantities of pain medication, as many as 240 pills at a time.

Police said Carter and her son, 19-year-old Peter Hernandez, called in phony prescriptions to various pharmacies in Mentor, Mentor-On-The-Lake and at a Giant Eagle in Painesville Township and sold roughly $20,000 worth of drugs.

The two were arrested after Carter made a mistake in some dispensing instructions, prompting the pharmacist to double-check with the doctor, police said.

Investigators said Carter used her Medicaid to pay for the drugs, meaning it’s a crime that cost taxpayers money.

Carter, Hernandez and a third suspect are charged with several felonies for the fake prescriptions and for using Medicaid to pay for them.

They are scheduled to appear in Painesville Municipal Court next Tuesday.

If convicted, they face up to five years in prison.

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Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine.

Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine