Stock image by Cody Blowers, St. George News
ST. GEORGE — Officers found a large amount of evidence during a search of a vehicle that was allegedly involved in a prescription fraud when medication was used for a dead person.
Emergency services received a call from a Washington City pharmacy shortly after noon on Saturday, reporting that a fraudulent opioid-based prescription had been called into the pharmacy at a supermarket on Red Cliffs Drive.
Officers responded and spoke to staff who said while they tried to verify the prescription, they discovered the patient had died.
Officers waited for the suspect and after a few minutes a man walked to the counter to collect the medication. Officers entered and detained the suspect, Calvin Jordan Williams, 18, of Phoenix, Arizona, according to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest.
Meanwhile, additional officers responded and scoured the parking lot, suspecting multiple suspects. One of the officers saw a brown sedan exiting the parking lot with two occupants in it. When the officer saw two brake lights that were off, the vehicle was stopped on Red Cliffs Drive for an equipment violation.
While speaking to the driver, Jazmyne Aisia Brooks, a 20-year-old Arizona resident, the officer asked what the two were doing at the pharmacy. Brooks said they were there to pick up a prescription but said it wasn’t there.
The passenger initially told police his name was Alex Joseph, which turned out to be incorrect, and he was later identified as Alexander Joseph Gala, 23, of Phoenix.
When officers reviewed the pharmacy’s CCTV footage, they saw a man exit a vehicle that matched the car that had stopped, leading the officer to believe that “Jazmyne and the man were involved in a fraud scheme.”
Armed with a search warrant, officers searched the car and found “a large amount” of evidence, including a piece of paper with several pen notes containing the personal identification information of several people – including birth dates, “agency” numbers, as well as “commissioner”- numbers. The list also included a mailing address for one of the individuals listed also had a mailing address.
All three suspects were transported to the purgatory correctional facility and placed in jail.
Williams told officers he was hired to pick up the prescription and then declined to answer any questions. He was charged with two violations, including obstruction of justice and wrongly obtaining or dispensing a prescription. He was released a short time later.
Gala faces a third-degree felony count of possession of multiple identification documents, along with three felony charges, including one count of conspiracy, providing false information from another to police, and possession of marijuana.
The report also states that while in prison, the officer attempted to put Gala’s cell phone on airplane mode, which is standard procedure when booking cell phones as evidence, but he “inadvertently observed a message from an unknown application telling him his remove photos “urgently,” he noted in the report.
Brooks faces a third-degree felony count of possession of multiple identification documents, as well as four felony charges, including one count of conspiracy, meddling in an arrest, possession of marijuana, and driving with a suspended license. She was also fined for the two traffic violations.
The officer also requested that both Brooks and Gala be held without bail, as the suspects are not from Utah and have no ties to the area. The request was approved and both remain in custody without bail.
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