Suspect snatches back phony prescription, charged with theft

A suspect was charged with petit theft after he snatched away the phony prescription he was trying to pass, a report shows.

A Suncoast Vital Care pharmacist contacted authorities Tuesday after a back-and-forth struggle with the suspect, David Romero. The pharmacist told a deputy that Romero came in for the second time that day around noon with a prescription for oxycodone.

The smudged prescription made the pharmacist suspicious, so he contacted the office of the issuing doctor. While he spoke with them, Romero grabbed the prescription and a copy of it from the counter. The pharmacist grabbed them back from Romero and placed them on a stool. Romero responded by lunging over the counter and grabbing the prescription, a report states.

Romero, 39, walked out when the pharmacist told him he was calling the sheriff's office. A deputy confirmed this sequence of events via surveillance camera footage and went to Romero's house to speak with him.

Romero admitted to snatching the prescriptions, then crumpling them up and throwing them out the window as he drove home, a report shows. He was charged with petit theft and attempting to pass a fraudulent prescription.