Pharmacy official will face charges
By John Joyce
Published in News on November 15, 2015 3:05 AM
An Eastern Carolina University pharmacy administrator could face up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines after pleading guilty in federal court Nov. 9 to making materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements and entries concerning health care matters.
According to a press release issued by the US. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of N.C., Leigh Langley Cobb, 43, forged signatures and documents to obtain medications not prescribed to any patients.
The total value of illegally obtained medications ranges between $550,000 and $1.5 million, the press release said.
"There is no evidence of a direct financial gain to Cobb," U.S.. Attorney's Office public information officer Don Connelly said. "ECU was the beneficiary of the drugs that, in some instances, were sold to other, unrelated patients," he said.
Between 2010 and 2012, Cobb worked for one of several clinics and pharmacies operated by the Brody School of Medicine at ECU's campus in Greenville.
According to the information Cobb offered in the plea, the false claims were made over a period of two years -- from January 2010 to October 2012 -- using the Patient Assistance Program. The program is designed to help low-income patients receive medications a doctor prescribes for them at a reduced rate.
Cobb admitted to falsifying PAP documents, including forging the signatures of both patients and doctors, and in some cases submitting documents on behalf of patients in the names of doctors to whom the patients were not assigned.
As a result, drug companies sent medications to the school either in larger quantities than were legitimately prescribed for patients or that were never prescribed for patients at all.
The investigation into the matter was conducted by the ECU Police Department and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations. A sentencing date has not yet been set.