Nurse, sister charged in prescription drug fraud

Published 12:54 pm Wednesday, July 27, 2016

MOULTRIE, Ga. — A pair of sisters — one a nurse — are accused of writing forged prescriptions and altering information on prescription bottles to illegally acquire opioid drugs.

Terry Lynn Barricklow is accused of passing along prescription forms from her employer to Alisa Arlene Peckham, with Peckham taking forged prescriptions to pharmacies in Doerun and Moultrie, according to police. Police said that together they conspired to use forged prescriptions and also altered a valid prescription in order to have it filled earlier than intended by the prescribing physician.

“They obtained prescription drugs — Hydrocodone and Soma  — by forging prescriptions,” said Sgt. Jerome Burgess, an agent with the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office Drug Enforcement Team. “Prescriptions were obtained from someone illegally. She (Barricklow) had her sister, Alisa Peckham, go to the Apothecary pharmacy in Doerun and purchase the [medicines] by fraud, deception. They conspired, and one of them went and did it.”

Hydrocodone is a pain-reliever, while Soma is a muscle relaxant.

The prescription form was stolen, forged and filled on July 12, Burgess said. Illegal prescriptions also were used at Convenient Care Pharmacy in Moultrie.

On May 14, he said, Peckham took a valid prescription on which the “do not fill until” date had been altered to an earlier date than that intended by the doctor.

Peckham is accused of trying to obtain a prescription by using the altered information at Convenient Care and the Apothecary, and was denied by one before the other eventually filled the prescription.

Store personnel were suspicious of the altered prescription but believed it was valid, Burgess said.

Barricklow, 54, 6287 Hwy. 33 N., Doerun, was charged on July 20 with conspiracy to commit a crime, violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act and unauthorized distribution of fictitious information for counterfeit transactions. She was released on Friday on a $7,500 bond.

Peckham, 52, 312 Mimosa Ave., was arrested on Tuesday morning and charged with criminal attempt to violate the Georgia Controlled Substances Act and two counts of acquiring or obtaining possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud or forgery. As of Tuesday evening she had not had a bond hearing.