Man charged with forged prescription

A man was bound to the grand jury Tuesday on drug fraud charges after he allegedly tried to pass a forged prescription when his wife?s doctor failed to prescribe a dosage adequate to stop his wife?s pain.

The defendant, Ronnie Carl Johnson, was bound to the grand jury following a short hearing Tuesday afternoon before General Sessions Judge Larry Ross in which McMinnville Police officer Stuart Whitman served as the lone witness.

During his testimony, Whitman said he helped investigate a report from Stewart Pharmacy that Johnson had tried to pass a prescription for Lorcet, a pain medication, which had been modified. Specifically, the script, which was almost illegible according to Whitman, had been crossed through where the dosage was noted. The amount of dosage had been changed from 90 to what appeared to be 120.

Whitman said that during an interview of Johnson, he had learned the suspect had debated with his wife?s doctor as to the amount of pain medication his wife was receiving, arguing that she was still in great pain while taking the prescribed dosage. However, the woman was kept on the current dosage following the debate.

While not admitting an intentional modification of dosage amount, Whitman said it was Johnson who attempted to pass the tampered prescription at Stewart Pharmacy. A check with the doctor?s office confirmed the script had been changed by using a pen to cross through the old amount and insert a new amount.