Bronx Woman Pleads Guilty To Forging Painkiller Prescriptions
NEW YORK (AP) -- A Bronx woman has admitted forging more than 250 prescriptions for painkillers and other narcotics.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says the counterfeit prescriptions were filled in 20 counties throughout the state.
Suzanne Benizio pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court in the Bronx on Tuesday to two counts of forgery. She is expected to receive four to eight years in prison.
She also must repay over $200,000.
Prosecutors say Benizio wrote the prescriptions by hand, or created them using a computer, on prescription paper stolen from doctors and hospitals in the New York City area. She also possessed a special printer needed to process the thermal prescription paper the state uses as a security measure.
The guilty plea comes as law enforcement officials focus on the growing problem of painkiller abuse.
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