Cops: Man tried to use stolen prescription pad

A St. James man used a blank prescription pad he had stolen from a doctor's office and forged a prescription he tried to fill at two pharmacies Friday, Suffolk police said.

Police said they recovered the blank pad and a slip for 120 oxycodone painkillers after arresting Andre Machate, 41, on Friday, when he returned to the second pharmacy to pick up the drugs.

Back on Nov. 28, Machate had smashed a glass window by the front door of a doctor's office on Main Street in the Village of the Branch, police said. He fled with the prescription pad, police said.

Then at 2:46 p.m. Friday, he handed a prescription to a pharmacist at the Terry Road CVS in Smithtown, police said. When the pharmacist questioned him about the authenticity of the prescription, Machate grabbed the prescription slip and fled, police said.

The pharmacist warned his colleague at the nearby CVS on Smithtown Boulevard in Nesconset and called police, said Fourth Precinct Det. Sgt. Frank Catalina.

The responding officer, Kevin O'Reilly, figured the suspect would try again nearby and went to the Nesconset CVS, Catalina said.

O'Reilly learned Machate had just dropped off a forged prescription, police said, and, when Machate returned for it at 4:30 p.m., O'Reilly arrested him.

Machate was charged with third-degree burglary, second-degree forgery and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property. He will be held overnight at the Fourth Precinct for his arraignment Saturday at First District Court in Central Islip.

Police believe Machate wanted oxycodone for his own use.

Detectives are asking anyone with information to call 631-854-8452 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.