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Delco doctor, receptionist charged in prescription scam

A Delaware County doctor and his receptionist were charged Friday with providing prescriptions for patients the doctor did not examine.

A Delaware County doctor and his receptionist were charged Friday with providing prescriptions for patients the doctor did not examine.

Steven Friedman, 74, of Newtown Square, and his secretary, Margaret McGowan, 78, surrendered to authorities and were charged with illegally distributing drugs out of Friedman's Havertown office.

Their arrests followed a five-month undercover investigation.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, when an undercover detective went to Friedman's office in Havertown for the first time and began speaking with McGowan, she asked, "So what do you want?" and then wrote a prescription for Oxycodone.

The detective returned before the end of his 30-day prescription limit, and McGowan told him to go to a different pharmacy to have the second prescription filled, warning him to avoid CVS or Rite Aid because "the government is really cracking down."

Friedman also spoke on the phone with the undercover detective, according to the affidavit, and left him a prescription for Oxycodone taped to the outside of the doctor's office door.

When detectives obtained a search warrant for Friedman's offices, they found four prescriptions for Oxycodone and Adderall taped to the outside of the door, and about two dozen files on McGowan's desk with copies of prescriptions but no patient information or history.

Judge Nicholas Lippincott arraigned Friedman and McGowan Friday and set $500,000 unsecured bail for both defendants.

-Laura McCrystal