Vienna Chief of Police Shannon Thompson has reported on an investigation Vienna PD has been working on between March 9 and March 11. Vienna PD worked with the Rolla Police Department to investigate person(s) attempting to obtain controlled prescription narcotics from numerous area pharmacies.

On March 9, Vienna PD was contacted by Sinks Pharmacy in Vienna, reporting a male had phoned in a prescription using a falsified DEA number, purporting it to belong to a physician from Seattle, WA. 

The pharmacist contacted the physician and learned the DEA number was indeed falsified by the suspect who was attempting to gain a controlled substance with the fake prescription.

The pharmacy received a call from a male wishing to pick up the prescription on that date. A Vienna police officer waited concealed inside the pharmacy but no one showed up to retrieve the prescription.

On March 11, staff from Sinks Pharmacy again contacted  Vienna PD when a taxi driver from Rolla arrived to retrieve the same prescription. An officer with Vienna PD arrived and contacted the cab driver who was able to show proof that she had been assigned by her company to pick up the package and deliver it to a hotel in Rolla.

Rolla PD was contacted and officers responded to the Hampton Inn in Rolla. They learned that the scammers were apparently using a different hotel and were going to attempt to meet the taxi driver in the lobby of that Hampton Inn.

During this investigation it was discovered that the same scammers were attempting to obtain controlled substances from numerous other pharmacies in the Central Missouri area from Sullivan to Iberia.

This matter remains under investigation by the Vienna and Rolla Police Departments.