Valley woman's prescription drug addiction localizes national problem

MAT-SU -- Medical science has come a long way, especially in the last half century, toward reducing the threats posed by both minor ailments and serious illnesses, providing relief to millions of Americans on a daily basis.

It is ironic, then, that these very measures taken to protect citizens from illness should cause problems for so many others. Prescription drug addiction, a comparatively new affliction in the medical world, is rapidly gaining ground both across the nation and within the Valley. The recent case of Crystal Shoup, a 42 year-old Wasilla woman arrested for stealing prescription pads and forging her doctor's signature on them in order to obtain Oxycontin and other prescription drugs provides a chilling confirmation of this spreading epidemic's local influence.

Shoup is accused of stealing several doctors' prescription pads and writing herself more than 25 prescriptions of Oxycontin, Hydrocodone, and Roxycodone over the past year, according to documents from the Alaska

State Troopers.

Shoup's offense was discovered by several pharmacists in the area, who contacted Dr. Lisa Cooney, Shoup's medical provider, with suspicions that Cooney's prescriptions were being used fraudulently. Cooney found that her name was being used on prescriptions for Oxycontin and Roxicodone, which she had reportedly never written for Shoup.

Cooney also found that forged prescriptions for Hydrocodone and Soma had been used above and beyond what she had reportedly prescribed for Shoup.

Twenty of these orders had been filled at the Wasilla Fred Meyer, and three additional prescriptions were filled at Susitna Professional Pharmacy. It was these prescriptions in particular that may prove to be Shoup's undoing, since a camera in Susitna Pharmacy reportedly caught her activities on a videotape, which was then provided to the Alaska State Troopers.

Dave Zuch with Susitna Pharmacy said the camera that caught Shoup's illegal activity was part of a sting set up by the troopers, who were reportedly waiting for Shoup to try using a forged prescription at the

pharmacy.

Trooper Officer Michael Zweifel examined Shoup's case, and discovered that the signatures on the prescriptions that Shoup turned in to Fred Meyer and Susitna Pharmacy bore discrepancies with genuine prescriptions signed by Cooney herself. This evidence led to Shoup being charged with second-degree forgery in the Palmer District Court.

Zuch said that in most cases a forged prescription is immediately identifiable, but Shoup's job was apparently unusually skillful.

"She was very good at forging Cooney's signature," Zuch said. "She was the best I've ever seen."

Nonetheless, Zuch mentioned that he saw very few forgeries come through the pharmacy, all things considered, and that those he did see were usually detectable without a professional eye.

"Typically you can tell if it's a forgery, but this one was so good that most pharmacies wouldn't have noticed," he said. "It was only when we started digging a little deeper that we found out something was wrong."

Zuch said his office was also tipped off by the fact that Cooney doesn't regularly prescribe pain-managing drugs, and Shoup's fraudulent prescriptions from Cooney's office were all requesting these drugs.

Cooney said she believed Shoup had obtained her prescription pads during her externship at Cooney's offices in spring 2003.

At 5 in the afternoon on April 15, officers from the Alaska State Troopers, the Drun Enforcement Agency, Fort Richardson Criminal Investigation Command, and Mat-Su Narcotics investigated Shoup's Wasilla residence under a search warrant. Zweifel said in charging documents in Shoup's case that in her Fairview Loop residence were blank prescription pads from three different doctors, including Dr. Cooney, as well as prescriptions written on Cooney's prescription pads, blank signed prescription pads bearing Cooney's forged signature, billing statements and receipts, and quantities of Oxycontin and Hydrocodone.

All of this evidence was reportedly scattered among plastic baggies full of medications, dozens of empty pill bottles, and an Alaska doctor's license not in Shoup's name, Zweifel said. Evidence was also reportedly found of Shoup's purchase of prescription drugs over the Internet, and records of purchase of these drugs from overseas.

The total damages: 2,600 pills charged to Tri-Care, Shoup's insurance company, which reportedly paid over $6,400 for the drugs.

Shoup's comprehensive charges include misconduct involving a controlled substance in the second degree, second degree theft, second degree forgery, and fraudulent use of an access device.

Shoup, in the charging documents, claimed she had performed these actions because her pain kept worsening and the pharmacies she visited were treating her "like a criminal." Shoup, in the documents, admitted being addicted to the drugs, and said that she takes one Oxycontin ordinarily, and up to three on a "bad day."

Contact Daniel Spoth at daniel.spoth@frontiersman.com.