On Thursday, police charged licensed practical nurse Tammy Cruz, 46, of Wares Cross Road, with 24 counts of forgery, identity fraud, two counts of possession of a schedule three narcotic, possession of a schedule four narcotic, possession of marijuana and theft by taking. The alleged offenses date back to February 2008.
A subsequent search of Cruz’s residence revealed several thousand dollars worth of other medications taken from Alford’s office and other locations in the clinic, police said.
Officials at Corley Drugs and CVS Pharmacy notified Alford Wednesday about an unusual number of prescriptions written in his name during the past year, Sgt. Mark Cavender said.
“The pharmacy provided lists of numerous various prescriptions issued by Cruz in Alford’s name,” Cavender said. “Alford had actually authorized only three of the prescriptions listed in the last year.”
After investigating the matter, police arrested Cruz at the clinic around 9 a.m. Thursday.
“It’s too early to say what her punishments could include,” Cavender said. “To my knowledge she doesn’t have any past criminal history. It will ultimately be up to the district attorney’s office. They are going to look at the totality of the situation, but at this point, the incident is still under further investigation.”
An internal investigation within Emory Clark-Holder Clinic took place before police was notified, Executive Director Bob Stanley said.
“We have taken this matter very seriously,” Stanley said. “We can assure patients and any residents involved with our clinic that in no way was patient care compromised in this matter. We are obviously very disappointed with Cruz’s alleged actions.”
Cruz has worked at Emory Clark-Holder Clinic for nearly a year-and-a-half, Stanley said.
Kenneth Thompson can be reached at kethompson@lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 228.
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