Richards sentenced for TennCare scam

A woman who ripped off TennCare by forging prescriptions on the public library computer was sentenced to serve three years.

The defendant, Melody Richards, entered guilty pleas before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley on Wednesday to charges of prescription fraud and TennCare fraud. She was instructed to serve three years. However, she can avoid service of her entire term by completing the drug court program in which she has been accepted.

Failure to successfully the complete the minimum one-year intensive course will result in service of her entire sentence behind bars.

Richards was arrested late last year after she passed forged prescriptions at the Stewart?s and Wal-Mart pharmacies.

The prescriptions, Richards admitted, were composed on and printed from the downtown library?s public computer bank. Lawmen say Richards would print the prescriptions in her own name and then forge her doctor?s signature, careful to model her forged prescriptions with those given by her doctor. Investigators say Loritab was Richards? drug of choice in the fraud scheme.

The TennCare fraud sentence comes because she paid for the drugs using her husband?s TennCare card.

Her arrest is one of several over the past months as lawmen look to crack down on cases of TennCare abuse and fraud.