An affidavit obtained from the Court Clerk’s Office today confirms the arrest of a Walnut Ridge Police Officer being after he allegedly obtain prescription medicine under fraudulent pretenses. Shaun Allen age 31 of Walnut Ridge was booked into the Lawrence County Jail and charged with Fraud and Possession of a Controlled Substance.
The charges originated after investigators were alerted to a possible crime by Wal-Mart in Walnut Ridge. Investigators began looking into the matter after a man who was detained in jail filed a police report with the Walnut Ridge Police Department claiming someone was refilling his medicine without his permission. Special Agent Creston Hutton with the Arkansas State Police was called in to head up the investigation after allegations were made that the suspect may have been in law enforcement.
According to the affidavit, after speaking to Wal-Mart administration and reviewing video investigators uncovered other incidents at the Prescription House in Walnut Ridge, Sexton’s Pharmacy and Wal-Mart in Pocahontas. Investigators also discovered that some of the prescriptions had been picked up by the officer while he was in uniform from several of the locations.
According to the affidavit, the Patrolman told pharmacist that he was picking the medicine up for the inmate, produced a brown envelope and paid in cash. The drugs picked up from the different locations were Hydrocodone and Methadone. It was also discovered that the prescriptions appeared to be forged and showed to be typed in different fonts indicating they had been altered. According to the affidavit, the fraudulent prescriptions date back as far as July 2013 and include incidents in December 2013, January 2014 and February 2014.
Allen was booked into the Lawrence County Jail, received a Bond Hearing and had a court date set.