OXYCONTIN RING LIKELY TO EXTEND INTO HORRY

More than two dozen arrests in Columbus County, N.C., for Medicaid fraud
Wednesday, which stemmed from OxyContin dealing, are expected to impact
Horry County, an official said.

"We feel sure that some went over into Horry County," Columbus County
Sheriff Jimmy Ferguson said. "We tracked it all over the state, which
probably means it went over into South Carolina."

In the roundup, the suspects "lived between Tabor City and the Brunswick
County line on the state line," Ferguson said.

On Wednesday, in what officials have said may be the first-of-its-kind
raid, 53 warrants for Medicaid fraud were issued for 32 people in Columbus
County, Ferguson said. The fraud came when the Medicaid recipients sold
their monthly Medicaid cards to drug dealers, who purchased OxyContin, a
painkiller, and other prescription narcotics.

"It started with our Department of Social Services noticing that a lot of
our Medicaid recipients were buying OxyContin," Ferguson said. "They'd get
a card, pay $3 [copay] to get their drugs and we're paying the rest. A
bottle [of OxyContin] can cost up to $500 or $600."

Investigators uncovered about $1 million in fraud including $28,926 in
OxyContin bought at local pharmacies there, he said.

People who sold their Medicaid cards, who were the majority of the people
arrested Wednesday, earned between $20 and $200 for their cards. If
convicted on the charge of medical assistance recipient fraud, those
arrested face up to two years in prison.

Horry County police officials could not be reached Thursday for comment on
any illegal OxyContin trade.

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

"I'm sure now that we're aware of it we're going to start looking at it
real close because it's taxpayer's money and involves a lot of money,"
Ferguson said.