BUST REVEALS BENEFIT FRAUD

TABOR CITY - In what may be a first-of-its-kind raid in North Carolina,
authorities tracked 32 Medicaid recipients in Columbus County they said
sold their monthly Medicaid cards to drug dealers.

Investigators said the card users then fraudulently bought $28,926 in
OxyContin at pharmacies.

The bust was the latest step in the state's fight against Medicaid fraud
and the illegal use of OxyContin.

Medicaid cards work much like insurance cards, so people with Medicaid can
pay for doctor's appointments and prescriptions. Police said those who sold
the cards made between $20 and $200 each.

By late afternoon Wednesday, officials had charged 24 suspects with medical
assistance recipient fraud. Some gave up easily. One put up a fight, hiding
in a closet while officers raided his home, guns drawn.

All were scheduled to be arraigned in Columbus County District Court
Thursday and could face up to two years in prison if found guilty.

Officials said Columbus County, a mostly rural county about 160 miles east
of Charlotte, has been a target for a Medicaid ring partly because drug
dealers know poor people willing to sell their cards.

Another factor, they said, is its proximity to South Carolina. Towns on
state borders often have drug problems because dealers find it easier to
evade police in two states.

Investigators said many of the cards were used to buy OxyContin in
Charlotte and surrounding cities, including Matthews and Indian Trail,
leading authorities to think the ringleaders are from those areas.

Officials in the Columbus County social services department started to
notice a problem about six months ago, when local pharmacists called them,
wondering why so many Medicaid patients were buying OxyContin. Some
pharmacists suspected some prescriptions for the drug had been forged.

An investigation revealed that those buying the drug had bought the
Medicaid cards.

For just a $3 copayment, buyers of the Medicaid cards were able in some
cases to buy a $670 bottle of OxyContin. The bottle's street value would be
as much as $7,200, officials said.

One suspect, Devaugh Prince of Tabor City, said his Medicaid card had been
stolen by his friend's father, a man he knew was an OxyContin dealer.

Prince, 31, is disabled and said he was surprised when officers arrived at
his home shortly after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Authorities said Prince's card
was used to buy more than $1,000 worth of OxyContin.

"I knew it was being used to buy Oxy," Prince said. "I'd told the SBI about
it. I didn't know they were going to pop me or nothing."