A 31-year-old Bristol Township man is accused of using fake prescriptions to obtain more than 13,000 controlled narcotics during a six-month period. The drugs included pain patches and anti-anxiety medications.
Bristol Township police say their investigation into suspect William Rittler is continuing.
Police launched the investigation in October after being contacted by a Walgreens pharmacy where Rittler attempted to fill a prescription for Didrex, a stimulant drug, using a phony prescription, according to a probable cause affidavit. The pharmacist there said Rittler had successfully filled phony scripts for other controlled substances including Xanax in June, police said.
Rittler reportedly used stock prescription paper that gave an authentic look to the alleged forged prescription that contained the name and other information of pain management doctors in Philadelphia where he was once a patient.
Police said the manager at the Philadelphia doctor’s office said they had not given Rittler an authentic prescription after March.
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| William Rittler |
Rittler used at least one other Bristol Township pharmacy where he presented 205 phony prescriptions, for both controlled and non-controlled substances, that were filled between June and December, court records show. Rittler used the prescriptions to obtain oxycodone, fentanyl patches, ketamine, alprazolam, promethazine with codeine liquid and other narcotics, police said.
During the same six-month period, Rittler fraudulently obtained controlled substances 56 times at the two pharmacies, and used his health insurance to pay for most of the drugs, police said. Police believe he obtained at least 13,546 pills or transdermal patches.
In late January, police developed information that Rittler was also using the phony prescriptions to obtain mail-order drugs, court documents show. Police said they spoke with a pharmacist at the Injured Workers Pharmacy in Massachusetts who confirmed receiving four prescriptions by mail for controlled drugs in Rittler’s name. The doctors’ names used were from the same Philadelphia practice he used before, police said.
But the mail-order pharmacist told police he contacted the doctors’ office because he knew from experience the doctors did not prescribe Schedule 2 controlled drugs and confirmed the prescriptions were fake, police said.
Rittler was arraigned Saturday on dozens of charges, including identity theft, forgery, insurance fraud, access device crimes and acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation. He was sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of 10 percent of $250,000 bail.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
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