Three Portland men are in custody after they were caught trying to use fake prescriptions to buy codeine cough syrup at six different drug stores across Ada County on Tuesday.
Fuad A Mohamed is charged with felony counts of criminal conspiracy, computer crime, and forgery. Devontae J. Ahmed and Abdullhi S. Abdulkadir are both charged with obtaining a controlled substance by deception.
All three are being held in the Ada County Jail and are set to make their initial court appearances Wednesday afternoon.
Our detectives began their investigation early Tuesday evening when a Boise-area pharmacist called to report he just got a fake prescription for cough syrup.
Detectives were quickly able to trace the movements of the trio across the six drug stores, eventually stopping them at a pharmacy in Meridian.
The 24-year-old Mohamed was driving a car with Oregon plates. The other two men, Ahmed and Abdulkadir, would go into the pharmacies and try to fill the fake prescriptions.
Detectives found a computer and printer in the car used to make the fake prescriptions, along with several printed prescriptions in various stages of completion.
Detectives also developed evidence the trio were trying to get as many bottles of codeine cough syrup as possible so they could sell them in the Portland area.
The crime of obtaining a controlled substance by deception is punishable by up to four years in prison and up to a $50,000 fine.