Hospital radiologic technologist charged in alleged prescription drug fraud scheme
Massachusetts authorities have charged a hospital radiologic technologist for his alleged role in a prescription drug fraud scheme.
The Suffolk County district attorney arraigned Rafael Garcia Friday, accusing him of conspiracy to violate drug laws, obtaining medications via fraud and larceny. Authorities accuse the 44-year-old man of gaining illegal access to Adderall, Clonazepam, injectable testosterone, and other substances through a nurse practitioner coworker at Boston Medical Center.
“Insurance fraud hurts everybody,” county DA Kevin Hayden said in a Nov. 19 announcement. “Putting controlled substances on the street for personal gain—which appears to be the motive here—pushes that hurt even further. The fact that these are people abusing their legal and ethical responsibilities is an added level of medical and professional duplicity.”
Police first became suspicious after a pharmacist in Malden, Massachusetts, flagged the prescribing behavior of NP John Cann, the Boston Herald reported Sunday. Cann allegedly wrote numerous prescriptions for the rad tech between February 2021 and this past June. Garcia was not his patient but charged the prescriptions to his health insurance, with Cann often picking them up himself.
Authorities charged Cann in Malden District Court earlier this year for issuing improper prescriptions. Meanwhile, Judge James Coffey set bail for Garcia at $2,500 and ordered him to return Dec. 29 for a pre-trial hearing.
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Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.