Springfield Doc Accused Of Forging Prescriptions, Fraud: Police

SPRINGFIELD, NJ — A Springfield doctor was arrested after police said he forged a colleague's signature to obtain prescription drugs.

Robert Hutchinson, 49, was charged with obtaining by fraud, uttering a forged document, receiving stolen property, said Detective Capt. Scott Breslow.

Police went to Hutchinson's Galloping Hill Road office in Union Oct. 12 on a report of a theft. A doctor told officers that he was looking into some prescriptions he had written and it looked like his signature was forged, Breslow said.

Detective Michael Theissen investigated and determined that eight different times there were questionable prescriptions with the unauthorized signature written to a fellow doctor in the practice, who was Hutchinson, Breslow said.

"A variety of prescription drugs" were obtained for each prescription, Breslow said.

Hutchinson surrendered to detectives Monday at police headquarters. He was arrested, charged, and released with a future court date.

Theissen worked with the Union County Prosecutor's Office Opiate Task Force and Assistant Prosecutor Peter DeRose during the investigation.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com