DA: Delaware County chiropractor charged over illegal opioid scripts

MEDIA, Pa. (WTXF) - A Delaware County chiropractor has been charged with writing fraudulent prescriptions and forging doctor signatures for addictive painkillers, the district attorney's office announced Wednesday.

The announcement follows an undercover investigation into Perssonal Health Chiropractic on East Chester Pike in Ridley Park.

Marc Steven Persson, of Swarthmore, was charged with six counts of delivery and criminal attempt to deliver a controlled substance charges, as well as forgery and related offenses.

Authorities were tipped off by an employee who reported that Persson had been writing fraudulent prescriptions for chiropractic patients. The employee told police that some local CVS Pharmacies had rejected and flagged as fraudulent several prescriptions written to the practice's patients.

Investigators say Persson wrote fraudulent prescriptions and forged doctor signatures for Oxycodone, Xanax and Gabapentin for six different patients from April to May 2017. The forged signatures belonged to former medical doctors at the practice.

Persson would also allegedly call in prescriptions to pharmacies for patients while posing as a doctor to obtain the opioid prescriptions.

District Attorney Katayoun Copeland spoke to the seriousness of the alleged crimes and their contribution to the heroin epidemic in Delaware County.

"The reckless and careless actions of Mr. Persson show a complete disregard for the well-being of his patients who he put in grave danger," said Copeland.

"Together, we will continue to aggressively arrest and prosecute individuals who are perpetuating the drug epidemic that is tearing families apart in our community."