Clinton High School principal Carl Herman has been suspended withoutpay from his job and has checked into a drug treatment center at Duke University Medical Center.
Herman faces 14 counts for forging prescriptions for Ritalin andHydrocordone, a pain killer. A pharmacist at a Revco drugstore in Smithfield got suspicious of Herman and called police.
Authorities say Herman used as many as 60 aliases at 101 different pharmacies, and forged the signatures of at least 25 physicians, includingthat of Dr. Allen Mask, a member of WRAL TV5's Health Team.
Mask says he feels violated that his name was used and worries thatthis sort of incident makes it increasingly more difficult for people whoneed medication to easily get it. Mask says such forgeries happen moreoften than people think.
Mask said he could not find Herman's name in the computer at RaleighUrgent Care Center, where Mask is medical director. That, he says,indicates probable use of an alias.
Physicians each have a number issued by the Federal Drug EnforcementAgency which authorizes them to write prescriptions. Forgers will oftensteal pads and use false DEA numbers and false names.
A licensed pharmacist and member of the WRAL Health Team, AliciaUnderwood says those who want to get drugs by fraudulent means have manyways.
Underwood says pharmacists look for errors on the forms like incorrectspelling, and larger than normal quantities of prescription drugs.
Deputies say they think that Herman had been forging prescriptionssince April.
Herman's lawyer, Doug Parsons, says his client was addicted to painkillers and couldn't get enough of them.
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