N.J. Man Sentenced for Reportedly Submitting Phony Prescriptions

New Jersey’s Acting Attorney General Peter Harvey announced that an Essex County man has been sentenced for reportedly submitting more than $3,500 in forged prescriptions to the Aetna Insurance Company.

According to Vaughn McKoy, Acting Director, Division of Criminal Justice and Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Peter Schmidt, 34, Essex County, was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $3,642.08 in restitution to the Aetna Insurance Company.

Schmidt plead guilty to a criminal Accusation which charged him with one count of theft by deception and one count of forgery (3rd degree) on April 9 before Essex County Superior Court Judge F. Michael Giles.

At the guilty plea hearing, Schmidt reportedly admitted to submitting at least nine forged prescriptions amounting to more than $3,500 to the Aetna Insurance Company for payment or reimbursement from December, 1999 through August, 2000. The forged prescription drug claim requests were submitted in the names of various persons who were unaware of the fraudulent scheme. Schmidt is currently incarcerated in the Essex County Jail following a Sept. 19, 2000, arrest by the Bloomfield Police Department on unrelated charges.

As part of the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor’s investigation, Schmidt’s former wife, Christine Schmidt, pled guilty on April 14 before Essex County Superior Judge Harold J. Fullilove to an Accusation which charged her with two counts of forgery (3rd degree).

Christine Schmidt reportedly admitted that she forged nine prescriptions using the names of two licensed physicians. The prescriptions were subsequently presented to two Newark pharmacies in an effort to obtain controlled substances. The doctors whose names appeared on the prescriptions were unaware of the forged documents and did not authorize the prescription drugs. Christine Schmidt was awaiting a June 3 sentencing before Judge Fullilove.