2 Admit To Submitting Fake Prescription Refills

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Two pharmacy technicians have pleaded guilty to submitting false claims of more than $2.5 million for prescription refills.

Thirty-year-old Vipinkumar Patel of Edgewood and 27-year-old Jigar Patel of Columbia entered the pleas this week in federal court in Baltimore. The Patels, who are not related, face a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

According to plea agreements, the Patels worked for Pharmacare. Prosecutors say the pharmacy technicians submitted false claim to a health care benefit program for refills, without patients' knowledge.

Authorities say medications not delivered to patients were placed back on the shelves at the pharmacy to be re-used to fill other prescriptions.

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