N.J. Woman Sentenced for Forging Phony Prescriptions

New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey announced that a Hudson County woman has been sentenced for forging drug prescriptions as part of a reported scheme to illegally obtain controlled prescription drugs.

According to Vaughn McKoy, Director, Division of Criminal Justice and Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Christine Schmidt, 35, of Hudson County, was sentenced to serve three years probation as a result of pleading guilty to an Accusation which charged her with two counts of third degree forgery.

At the guilty plea hearing on April 14, before Essex County Superior Judge Harold Fullilove, 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 the controlled substances. The doctors whose names appeared on the prescriptions were unaware of the forged documents and did not authorize the prescription drugs.

On April 9, Schmidt’s former husband, Peter Schmidt pled guilty before Essex County Superior Court Judge F. Michael Giles to an Accusation which charged him with one count of theft by deception and one count of forgery.

At the guilty plea hearing, Peter Schmidt reportedly admitted to submitting nine forged prescriptions amounting to more than $3,500 to the Aetna Insurance Company for payment or reimbursement. The forged prescriptions were submitted to the insurance companies for payment from December, 1999 through August, 2000.

Schmidt is currently incarcerated in the Essex County Jail following a Sept. 19, 2000 arrest by the Bloomfield Police Department on unrelated charges.