Four Tri-State residents are awaiting a Thursday arraignment in Ironton Municipal Court after two separate drug arrests at a local pharmacy Monday.

Tuesday, March 07, 2000

Four Tri-State residents are awaiting a Thursday arraignment in Ironton Municipal Court after two separate drug arrests at a local pharmacy Monday.

"We received a call at about 9:30 a.m. from Bentley’s Pharmacy that a subject was picking up a prescription that had been called in illegally," Ironton Police Department Detective Capt. Chris Bowman said. "What happens in a case like this is that someone calls in a prescription posing as a nurse at a doctor’s office and then there is a pickup attempt at the pharmacy."

Bentley’s pharmacy employees, however, had doubted the validity of the call for some time. The Monday arrest of Mark Duncan, 2666 James River Road, Huntington, W.Va., was the result of a two-week investigation, Bowman said.

The day at Bentley’s Pharmacy, however, was just beginning.

Hours later, at about 5 p.m., a second, similar call came into IPD dispatch from Bentley’s, Bowman said.

"This call was in reference to a subject attempting to pass altered prescriptions," Bowman said.

Two men and a woman had visited an area doctor and received a prescription for medication, he explained.

"They had a valid prescription, but they altered it by adding Loroset to the original prescription," he said.

A handwriting discrepancy was noted by the pharmacy and calls to check the prescription’s validity were followed by a call to Ironton police.

"We arrived on the scene and arrested three subjects on charges of illegal processing of drug documents," he said. "It is a felony."

Tammy L. Arms, 30, of 11370 Kentucky 825, Oil Springs, Ky., was charged with illegal processing of drug documents, as were Keith F. Rowland, 27, of 11370 Kentucky 825, Oil Springs, Ky., and Charlie R. Baker, 35, of 11432 Kentucky 825, Oil Springs, Ky.

Baker also is charged with possession of drugs, a misdemeanor.

"These arrests would not have been possible without the cooperation of the local pharmacies," Bowman said. "This investigation is also a cooperative effort between the Ironton Police Department and the Lawrence County drug task force."

The task force includes IPD, South Point Police, Coal Grove Police and Lawrence County Sheriff’s departments as well as the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office.