Sarasota vet accused of taking animals’ opioid prescriptions for herself

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Sarasota vet was arrested after police said she wrote prescriptions for animals and then picked them up from a pharmacy for her own use, according to the Sarasota Police Department.

A man was taking his dog to see Melissa Page, who owns Coastal Veterinary Internal Medicine on Fruitville Road. Page wrote the dog a prescription in January for hydromorphone, which is an opioid.

The dog’s owner took the prescription to Walgreens to have it filled. Police said the prescription was filled and the dog owner took the prescription home for his dog.

The dog owner later decided to join the business as an investment to help Page run the practice, when he eventually noticed “erratic behavior” from her. He also observed a prescription bottle at the clinic under his dog’s name that he never picked up, according to police.

He questioned Page about the prescription, and she stopped talking to him, according to police.

The dog owner then went to Walgreens and learned that Page allegedly changed his account information with Walgreens to make the point of contact her personal cellphone number.

Page allegedly would write prescriptions for the animals and then take them to Walgreens, returning later to pick them up for her own use, according to police.

The Walgreens pharmacy manager notified the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about Page possibly writing fraudulent prescriptions. Police said all of Page’s patients are animals, so the pharmacy manager became suspicious “because of the type of medication she was dropping off to be filled.”

Page’s personal cell phone number was listed on the accounts of four patients, according to police.

Page was charged with two counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.

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