Lake County man gets prison for drug scam

A Lake County man was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday for trying to obtain drugs with a forged prescription.

The sentence marked the eighth time since 1985 that Donald Schuringa, 53, has been ordered to serve time in prison for felony crimes.

Schuringa, who officials said has no fixed address, was arrested June 30 at the Osco Drug in Gurnee.

Assistant State's Attorney Steven Derue said Schuringa had given a pharmacist a prescription for antidepressant drugs made out in the name of another person.

Another store in the Osco chain had sent out an alert that Schuringa was engaging in fraudulent activities, Derue said, so the pharmacist asked Schuringa to come back in a short time to get his prescription.

When Schuringa returned to collect his order, the pharmacist asked him for some identification and Schuringa walked away from the counter.

But Gurnee police were arriving at the store, and took Schuringa into custody as he attempted to walk out of the store.

During a search, police found five more prescriptions for the drug made out to three different names and 15 tablets of the drug on Schuringa's person.

Police also discovered Schuringa had prescription pads that had been stolen from three different Chicago doctors.

He pleaded guilty to forgery and received the maximum five-year sentence.

Derue told Circuit Judge John Phillips Schuringa has served prison sentences for forgery, retail theft and driving violations.