A Greenville woman has been arrested after attempting to refill prescription painkillers without a doctor’s consent.

Patricia Yakkey, 51, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance on March 29 after she forged a doctor’s prescription to refill Lortab.

“She brought an alternate prescription in and when there wasn’t supposed to be any refill, she brought it in with a refill,” said Lt. Byron Russell, commander of the Second Judicial Task Force.

The pharmacist at The Medicine Shoppe called the doctor’s office to confirm a refill, and the doctor said no refill was necessary on the prescription, according to Russell.

“We told them to get the prescription ready, and we let her pick it up and we arrested her,” Russell said.

Instead of charging Yakkey with just forgery, the Task Force chose to charge Yakkey with unlawful possession of controlled substance because she physically altered the prescription.

“If you alter any kind of prescription, you can be charged with unlawful possession,” Russell said. “We set her up, we let her pick it up and as soon she picked it up, we arrested her as soon she walked out of the store.”

Russell said unfortunately, this seems to be a common problem in Butler County with people bringing in false prescriptions to get refills.

“We arrested a lady about a month ago at CVS for the same thing,” Russell said. “It’s real common, but The Medicine Shoppe always calls us about it when they have one.”