A 30-year-old man who deputies say tried to use a fake prescription to buy a painkiller was foiled Tuesday after he suddenly ran out of the East Naples pharmacy, drawing the suspicions of a deputy who was in the store.Matthew James Gross of Fort Myers presented a prescription for Oxicodone to the pharmacist at Wooley’s pharmacy, 3761 U.S. 41 E. around 2:13 p.m.
While Gross was waiting for the prescription to be filled, a CCSO deputy entered the pharmacy on an unrelated matter. Gross spotted the deputy, panicked and fled the store, reports said.
The deputy became suspicious and pursued Gross into the parking lot, where Gross got into a blue minivan, shouting at the driver, “Go now. Go now,” reports said. Deputies stopped the minivan a short distance away.
Further investigation by deputies revealed that the prescription Gross tried to pass was fraudulent, reports said.
The van’s driver told deputies that Gross obtains prescriptions from a woman, whom he repays by giving her half of the pills from each prescription, reports said.
Gross was arrested and charged with prescription fraud, a felony.
