Woman Charged With Defrauding Local Pharmacies, Insurance Company

A Barnegat woman was indicted on 21 criminal counts alleging insurance fraud, drug possession and forgery in relation to a series of alleged crimes over a two-year period in Barnegat, Brick, Toms River and Beachwood.

Dana Garrison, 31, of Lexington Boulevard engaged in insurance fraud by submitting at least five fraudulent claims for payment and reimbursement for prescription benefits through her insurance company, an grand jury found last week.

The indictment states Garrison made false and misleading statements of fact in a series of claims from April 13, 2008 to May 21, 2010, submitted to Horizon Blue Cross & Blue Shield.

Garrison additionally is charged with seven counts of uttering a forged instrument for allegedly submitting forged prescription blanks to area pharmacies in efforts to obtain drugs, the indictment states. In six of those seven alleged crimes, the grand jury also found sufficient evidence to charge Garrison with obtaining a controlled, dangerous substance by fraud, as well as possession of a controlled, dangerous substance.

The Barnegat woman obtained the following drugs on multiple dates at a series of pharmacies:

• Walgreens Pharmacy, Brick, alprazolam, March 31, 2010
• Rand's Pharmacy, Toms River, hydrocodone, April 9, 2010
• , Toms River, oxycodone, May 11, 2010
• CVS Pharmacy, Toms River, hydrocodone, May 18, 2010
• Rite Aid, Barnegat, oxycodone, May 18, 2010
• Stop & Shop, Brick, alprazolam, May 21, 2010

Garrison then tried to pass a phony prescription at Health First Pharmacy in Beachwood, the indictment states, but was unsuccessful. She was charged with uttering a forged instrument and attempting to obtain a controlled dangerous substance by fraud for the May 25, 2010, incident.

She was initially jailed on $50,000 bail, but posted Sept. 22, 2010.