BELLAIRE, Texas – A receptionist at a dentist's office has been accused of stealing patients' identities to get Vicodin.
Angela Lee Collum, 40, has been charged with fraudulent use of identifying information.
Bellaire police said Collum used 19 different people's identities to fill the prescriptions.
Investigators said a pharmacy questioned Collum's employer after a prescription for a large quantity of Vicodin was transfered from Bellaire to Pasadena.
"She was in a position within the office to handle protected information with the patient charts," said Boyd Shepherd, the dentist's attorney. "She would contact a pharmacy, call in a prescription on behalf of the patient for them to pick up themselves but then made other arrangements for her to pick up that prescription instead of a patient.
Detectives looked at surveillance video from several pharmacies that received Vicodin prescriptions from that office and determined that Collum was filling them.
The incident happened between Aug. 27 and Sept. 10, police said.
Collum was booked into the Harris County Jail and was released after posting $10,000 bond. She was fired by the dentist's office.