Connecticut Man Charged for Forging Numerous Controlled Substance Prescriptions
A Connecticut man sentenced to 6 years in prison last year for conspiracy to pass 2 forged prescriptions is now being accused of passing more fraudulent prescriptions successfully and netting more than 1000 tablets of medication.
A Connecticut man sentenced to 6 years in prison last year for conspiracy to pass 2 forged prescriptions is now being accused of passing more fraudulent prescriptions successfully and netting more than 1000 tablets of medication.
Janusz Surowka of Ellington, Connecticut, was arrested on September 28, 2016, on a warrant in connection to numerous accounts of forging and filling prescriptions at various pharmacies.
Surowka was initially arrested in September 2015 for attempting to pass forged prescriptions at a Walgreens pharmacy in Vernon. A surveillance video showed one man attempting to pass the fake prescriptions, and another, who was later identified as Surowka, acting as the lookout and driver.
After investigating Surowka, police found from the Connecticut Prescription Monitoring Program Database that he had successfully passed fraudulent prescriptions at a nearby CVS Pharmacy. Between January 1, 2014, and September 15, 2015, 73 prescriptions were filled for Surowka in Vernon, 7 in Meriden, 4 in Somers, and 1 in Manchester.
On October 5, 2015, police found 19 original prescriptions passed by Surowka at the CVS Pharmacy and some video surveillance footage of the transactions. Surowka passed fraudulent prescriptions for Xanax, Valium, oxycodone, fentanyl, Klonopin, and methadone in varying amounts and strengths.
Throughout the scheme, Surowka obtained more than 1000 tablets and 140 patches of medication. In addition, police found that Surowka had also illegally filled 64 prescriptions at a Rocky Hill pharmacy in his grandmother’s name with her Medicaid benefits.
He has been charged with 17 counts of second-degree forgery and obtaining controlled drugs with forged prescriptions, 15 counts of possession of narcotics, and 1 count of obtaining controlled drugs through fraud. All charges result from incidents that occurred between February and September 2015.
Surowka has had multiple convictions of controlled drug fraud and forgery in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
