Crystal Lake surgeon accused of passing fraudulent prescription
A plastic surgeon faces felony and misdemeanor charges for trying to use a bogus prescription in the name of a dead patient to obtain a drug at a Mundelein pharmacy, police said.
Dr. Bradford Roberg, 53, of McHenry, a board-certified plastic surgeon who runs the Northern Illinois Plastic Surgery Center in Crystal Lake, was arrested Tuesday. He was released Wednesday on a $50,000 recognizance bond.
The CVS drug store at 1101 W. Route 176 notified Mundelein Police that Roberg was trying to use a fraudulent prescription for OxyContin.
"They told us that they had received an alert from the (Drug Enforcement Administration) not to accept prescriptions from this person," Deputy Police Chief Mike O'Brien said Thursday.
The DEA did not actually issue an alert to the pharmacy about Roberg, but its Diversion program has an ongoing investigation of him. A DEA spokeswoman would not release additional details.
The DEA's Diversion program regulates controlled substances or prescription drugs deemed to be physically or psychologically addictive.
OxyContin is considered the most addictive controlled substance. It is a painkiller used for injuries, bursitis, dislocations, fractures, neuralgia, arthritis, lower back pain, and pain associated with cancer. It is not illegal with a valid prescription. It contains the active ingredient oxycodone, whose products have been illegally abused for 30 years, according to the DEA's Web site.
Roberg was charged with one count of forgery and attempting to issue or deliver a prescription, a Class 3 felony; one count of possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony; and one count of obtaining a substance by fraud, a Class A misdemeanor.
A preliminary hearing for Roberg is set for 10:30 a.m. June 26 in room C120 of the Waukegan courthouse.