Walmart employees thwart alleged prescription fraud

Published 5:08 pm Wednesday, March 19, 2014

by Sequim Gazette Staff

A Sequim woman faces prescription fraud charges after police say she pretended to be a doctor to obtain narcotic painkillers.

Sequim police were waiting for Lawanda Butler, 45, at the Walmart pharmacy March 21 after employees called to tell them the woman left several messages claiming to be a doctor calling in a hydrocodone prescription for Butler, according to the probable cause statement.

Pharmacy employees had called the clinic mentioned in the message and were told no one had phoned in any prescriptions for Butler, police said.

A plainclothes detective with the Sequim Police Department waited inside Walmart near the pharmacy and waited for Butler to pick up her prescription, police said.

When she arrived, police entered the store and questioned her about the prescription. She was arrested on suspicion of prescription fraud.

One charge of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud was filed in Clallam County Superior Court on March 24. The charge is a class C felony, punishable by two years in prison and a fine of $2,000.