Police Arrest 12 In Long Island Drug Case

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Nassau County police arrested a dozen people during a drug sweep on Long Island.

The defendants range in age from 25 to 58, but they are all charged with the same crime: stealing prescription pads from doctors' offices and writing phony scripts to get their hands on oxycodone, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reports.

 LISTEN: WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reports

Nassau County police Lt. Pete Donahue said oxycodone abuse is a widespread problem with everyone from teens to people in their 70s getting caught.

"Most of it's done through stolen prescription pads and they'll forge the doctor's name and present it with a fake ID at the pharmacy and pay cash," Donahue said.

Donahue also said none of the defendants knew one another.

"We have several detectives that are assigned to prescription fraud. All of sudden we were getting a lot more of these cases," Donahue said. "So what we did is we partnered up with special operations and gave them a list and we went out and rounded up these 12 people."