- April 17, 2024
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An employee at a Palm Coast doctor's office was caught giving prescriptions without the doctor's permission and turned herself in on June 18.
Renee Sybil Caruso-Irizarry, 37, admitted to Flagler County Sheriff's Office detectives that she also helped helped to prepare needles for surgeries, and to sterilize patients, rooms and equipment. She knew it was unethical, but she justified it because she was "overworked and underpaid," she said.
The Sheriff’s Office has been investigating Caruso-Irizarry since late May when deputies were made aware of her calling in unauthorized prescriptions for herself and others while working at Coastal Healthcare Partners.
During the investigation, detectives with the FCSO Special Investigations Unit interviewed the physician at the office and learned that Caruso-Irizarry was responsible for calling in prescriptions for patients and was a patient herself while working at the office.
Unknown to the physician at the time, Caruso-Irizarry was also calling in unauthorized prescriptions for herself and two other people. It was also learned that Caruso-Irizarry was receiving medical complaints from the two people and was then determining herself which prescriptions would be best to treat their ailments.
Detectives interviewed Caruso-Irizarry and she admitted to calling in the prescriptions and using the physician’s authorization code without the physician’s consent on numerous occasions for herself and the two others.
Carusa-Irizarry told detectives that she had been working at medical offices for 10 years and has been providing "under the table" in-home care for a friend.
“This woman took advantage of her employment at a medical facility and decided to play doctor,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “Luckily no one was seriously injured by the medications she prescribed. Our SIU did a great job in thoroughly investigating this case and obtaining all of the documentation surrounding these prescription orders. Florida has a robust Prescription Drug Monitoring Program in place, and, in this case, it helped us build a strong case to support these charges.”
Detectives presented the findings to Judge France, and a felony arrest warrant was granted on June 18. Caruso-Irizarry was charged with one count of Practicing Medicine without a License, six counts of Obtaining a Controlled Substance by Fraud, and four counts of Falsely Making a Prescription. The total bond for all counts is $12,000. Caruso-Irizarry posted bond and was released early Friday morning.
Caruso-Irizarry’s employment was terminated by the physician on May 15. This investigation is ongoing.
