HARRISBURG — Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced that a former Lackawanna County medical technician was sentenced to 36-72 months in state prison followed by 7 years of probation for forging prescriptions for 3,500 pills, including OxyContin, Percocet and Klonopin. Allyson Delfino, 46, of Greentown, pleaded guilty to three felony counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and three counts of identity theft in December 2018.
Delfino obtained the pills by generating unauthorized prescriptions from a computer program while she was employed at Mount Cobb Medical Center and Greentown Medical Center from April-September 2017. She would order prescriptions in her name, as well as the names of her ex-husband, adult children and other individuals, including one senior citizen. She would pick up the prescriptions for those individuals at local pharmacies without their consent or knowledge. Delfino was fired from her job in October 2017 when her actions were discovered.
“My Office is committed to stopping the illegal diversion of prescription drugs that is fueling the opioid epidemic across Pennsylvania,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “Since taking office, our diversion arrests have increased by 50 percent. We are focused on combating this crisis by confronting it with a multidisciplinary approach—and cracking down on misuse of prescription medications is a major part of our efforts.”
Understanding that four out of five people addicted to heroin started by using prescription opioids, Attorney General Shapiro and his team have made combatting the illegal diversion of prescription drugs a top priority. Investigating and prosecuting these diversions is an important part of the office’s multi-prong approach to fighting the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania. Shortly after taking office, Attorney General Shapiro appointed Deputy Attorney General Bob Smulktis as the new Director of Drug Diversion to coordinate all activities in the office. Since January 2017, the Office of Attorney General has made 428 diversion arrests—a 50% increase from before entering office. In their first year in office alone, they made 216 arrests, which was a 72% increase from 2016.
This case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General William Abraham in Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas.
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