Tewksbury Police Charge Man With Trying To Use Fake Prescription

TEWKSBURY, MA — Tewksbury police arrested a man Wednesday evening after he attempted to use a fake prescription at a local pharmacy, Chief Ryan Columbus said Thursday.

The man is also accused of trafficking over 756 grams of codeine, Columbus said in a news release.

J'Andre Russ, 28 of Dorchester, was charged with:

• Trafficking over 200 grams of a class A substance (codeine)
• Uttering a false prescription (two counts)
• Furnishing false identification to law enforcement
• Possession of a false RMV document (two counts)
• Possession with intent to distribute a class B substance (two counts)
• Possession of a class E substance
• Fugitive from justice

Around 6 p.m. Wednesday, Tewksbury police responded to a reported attempt to use a fake prescription at a CVS. A suspect, since identified as Russ, was still in the store when police arrived.

Police were told that Russ had previously attempted to obtain another fake prescription on Dec. 30, in the same store, according to the news release. He was arrested at the CVS.

"A subsequent search of a vehicle Russ had been driving revealed bottles containing over 756 grams of apparent Codeine — an opiate derivative — two bottles of apparent Azithromycin tablets, a total of 49 tablets of apparent Oxycodone, a fake Massachusetts identification with a photo of Russ and someone else's name, two bags of marijuana edibles and 21 credit cards in other people's names," the news release continued. "Over $1,000 in cash was found on Russ as well."

Russ was wanted on three arrest warrants, two from Boston and one from Florida, police said.

"I would like to thank the staff members at CVS Pharmacy who called us immediately upon detecting what appeared to be a fraudulent attempt to obtain a prescription," Columbus said. "Timely, accurate information from businesses and members of the public is a vital tool in our efforts to keep Tewksbury safe."

Russ was held without bail pending his arraignment Thursday in Lowell.

All people are presumed innocent until proven guilty.