Pharmacist jailed for six months over €70,000 fraud

A pharmacist has been jailed for six months after she pleaded guilty to 21 counts of theft and fraud where she stole some €70,000 from the HSE in an elaborate scheme involving falsifying drug payment scheme claims.

Christine Crowley (72) from Main Street, Drimoleague, Co Cork, was sentenced to 2½ years in jail. Judge Seán Ó Donnahbáin suspended the final two years of the term in light of her age and her relatively poor health as well as her previous good character and unlikelihood of reoffending.

Judge Ó Donnabháin said that Crowley was a qualified pharmacist who used her expertise and familiarity with the HSE drug payment scheme to set about an elaborate fraud solely for her own financial gain and there was no doubt but that “the criminality was egregious”.

Among the aggravating factors were the level of criminality involved, the amount of money involved and the fact that it went on for several years and he noted that Crowley had failed to provide any co-operation to the gardaí even when it was inevitable that she was going to be caught.

But he accepted she was now remorseful and her plea of guilty was significant in that she had saved the State the expense of a complicated five-week long trial that would have involved evidence from 174 witnesses including patients in respect of whom she made false dispensing claims.

In those circumstances she was entitled to a 50 per cent discount on the five-year term merited by the aggravating factor. But because of her age, moderate health, previous good behaviour and unlikelihood of reoffending, he said he would suspend the last two years of the 30 months term.

Audit

Det Garda Liz O'Sullivan had earlier told Cork Circuit Criminal Court how gardaí began investigating Crowley in July 2009 following a complaint from the HSE after its inspectors had carried out an audit of two pharmacies that she owned in Dunmanway, Crowley's Pharmacy and Kerr's Pharmacy.

HSE inspectors found discrepancies at both her pharmacies between the quantity of prescription medicines that had been dispensed and the quantity of medicines that Crowley had claimed for under the Drug Payment Scheme, said Det Garda O’Sullivan.

Gardaí began an investigation and searched the two pharmacies under warrant and seized a large amount of documentation as well as copies of computer records and found the HSE had reimbursed Crowley for fictitious medicines that had never been dispensed to patients.

The amount of documentation seized by gardaí covering the investigation period from 2004-2009 was so big that gardaí chose to carry out a detailed investigation on the six-month period from January to June 2009, said Det Garda O’Sullivan.

They found that Crowley had made false claims in respect of 422 patients and they took statements from 83 patients and when they examined claims in respect of a sample of three of these 83 witnesses, they found that similar fraudulent claims were made between 2004 and 2008.

Crowley had instructed three staff members to implement the fraud which was highly sophisticated and over the six-month period, she had obtained €70,916 in fraudulent claims which she forged, said Det Garda O’Sullivan.

“In reality, the medicines were never prescribed by any medical practitioner, were never dispensed by the pharmacist and were never received by the patient even though claims were made for them by the pharmacist and she was paid for them by the HSE,” she said.

The HSE recouped the €70,916 from Crowley by stopping drug scheme payments to her for 12 months during which time she continued to dispense medicines on the scheme but at her own expense and other monies were the subject of civil litigation between the HSE and Crowley.