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Pet prescription fraud takes Goodyear police around West Valley

Posted 7/24/20

Goodyear police arrested a Surprise woman accused of providing fake dog prescriptions to several pharmacies in the West Valley.

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Pet prescription fraud takes Goodyear police around West Valley

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Goodyear police arrested a Surprise woman accused of providing fake dog prescriptions to several pharmacies in the West Valley.

Kristen Suzanne Broda, 50, faces multiple counts of forgery, fraudulent schemes, and narcotic drug possession, according to court documents.

The investigation into her alleged actions started July 12, when Goodyear police responded to the Walgreens near Litchfield and Indian School roads after a female suspect tried to fill fraudulent prescriptions for narcotic drugs, records state.

Pharmacist consultation logs identified her as Kristen Broda, who was trying to fill prescriptions for her dogs, court documents state.

Pharmacy staff told officers that they noticed several red flags with the prescriptions due to the doctor’s phone number being incorrect, the requested narcotic amount was very high in relation to others for similar cases, the medication requested was unusual for canines, and the paper used for the prescriptions lacked security features.

Further, staff recognized the woman as the subject of corporate security releases, which indicated that a female had been successful in filling at least five canine prescriptions for hydrocodone between December and May, records state. In addition, they recognized that subject was associated to at least 11 fraud instances involving different Walgreens in the West Valley between July 2019 and July 2020 — all for hydrocodone.

Officers contacted veterinarians from animal hospitals in Peoria and Scottsdale, where the prescriptions were fraudulently obtained, records state. However, none of them had any dogs as patients with the names provided in the prescriptions. They also did not know of a Kristen Broda. A further look at the prescriptions showed a lack of security features, proving they were fake, records state.

A tracker search warrant was obtained for the alleged suspect’s vehicle and cellphone, and on Monday, July 20, pings for the phone alerted police to a residence near Peoria and Bullard avenues in Surprise. Detectives drove there and found a vehicle matching the suspect’s description.

On Wednesday, July 22, detectives received phone pings of the suspect’s phone near 111th and Alabama avenues in Youngtown, where a pet pharmacy was nearby. Authorities then saw the phone pinging near 103rd Avenue and Thunderbird Road in Sun City.

The alleged suspect then returned to and entered the pharmacy in Youngtown, where authorities placed a GPS tracker on her vehicle before she exited and left. They then spoke to employees at the pharmacy, who provided a prescription that originally came from an animal hospital near Dysart and Camelback roads in the Litchfield Park area. The doctor there said the prescription looked fraudulent and that the signature was not hers, records state.

Goodyear police on Wednesday night arrested Kristen Broda at her residence in Surprise without incident. She refused to be interviewed and requested an attorney, records state. Authorities found at least 10 prescriptions in a folder at the home.

Kristen Broda was booked into jail in lieu of $2,500 bond, court documents state. She is due in court July 29 and 31.