Police Blotter: Fake Prescriptions and Wandering Caterpillars

All information presented in these reports was gathered from the . An arrest is not a conviction.

Obtaining CDS by Fraud
At 2 p.m. June 11, Kenneth Byrd, 50, of Collingswood was apprehended at the Ames drug store on Collings Avenue for trying to obtain fraudulent prescriptions.

An Ames pharmacist contacted the physician of record on the prescription Byrd tried to fill—for loretab, hydrocodone and acetaminophen—and was told that no such document had been issued.

At that time, the pharmacist contacted the Collingswood police department, which dispatched an officer to the premises awaiting Byrd’s pick-up.

Byrd was arrested when he came to the store to pick up the prescription and charged with obtaining a controlled dangerous substance by fraud.

Police also determined Byrd had been wanted on some $400 in outstanding warrants from Collingswood municipal court, which led to a $15,000 full-cash warrant for his arrest. He was remanded to Camden County correctional facility pending a future trial date.

Burglary
At 3:45 a.m. June 11 Collingswood police officers were dispatched to 25 Bellevue Terrace to investigate a report of a found burglary to a residence. The property is an unoccupied dwelling owned by Housing and Economic Opportunities, Inc.

Unknown actors had broken a second-story window and removed a quantity of 1.25-inch copper piping as well as bathroom and kitchen fixtures. The investigation is still ongoing.

Vehicle Burglary
At 9 a.m. June 12, officers were dispatched to 40 Route 130, a vacant building at the intersection of Route 130 and Maple Ave to investigate the theft of a stolen commercial construction vehicle.

The call was placed by South State Inc., the company overseeing construction . Workers had parked a 2001 420D Caterpillar backhoe (similar to this one) in the parking lot overnight, and returned to the job site the next day to find it was missing. The vehicle is valued in excess of $30,000.

Nothing of value had been left at the scene. Officers contacted the manufacturer, and discovered that the vehicle is equipped with a LoJack tracking system, which had been activated. A few days after the vehicle was reported stolen, it was recovered at another construction site in Camden County. Officers in that municipality are continuing the investigation.