RALEIGH -- The State Bureau of Investigation says a Jacksonville nurse used her former employer’s medical practice to illegally obtain and sell prescription pain killers.

The SBI arrested Julie Bucci, 47, on Sept. 10 for allegedly using the names of her mother, deceased husband and her own name on fraudulent prescriptions for dilaudid and hydrocodone and then filled the bogus scripts at pharmacies.

The SBI and the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office charged Bucci following a six-month investigation of Bucci and co-worker, Bobbi Jo Smail, 31, of Jacksonville. Bucci’s mother, Rebecca R. Rhodes, 73, of Jacksonville, was also charged for picking up the drugs for Bucci from the pharmacies. Smail was arrested Sept. 9.

Bucci was a registered nurse and Smail a receptionist at a Jacksonville physician’s office when their employer discovered they were stealing from prescription pads and calling pharmacies on behalf of the practice to obtain the drugs. The employer reported the women to the police.

Bucci was charged with 36 counts of obtaining controlled substances by forgery and 36 counts of level III trafficking by possession of opiates. She was booked into the Onslow County Jail under a $3.6 million dollar bond. She will appeared in court Thursday.

Rhodes was arrested on two counts of obtaining controlled substance by forgery and two counts of level III trafficking by possession of opiates. She was held in the Onslow County Jail under a $200,000 bond. Smail was charged with illegally obtaining a total of 4,000 of oxycodone, a street value of $40,000, since 2012 by using forged prescriptions.

 

Contact: Teresa West
Phone: (919) 662-4500