ST. GEORGE — A California woman recently released from jail was arrested after attempting to fill fraudulent prescriptions over the weekend.
2021 file photo for illustrative purposes only of officers responding to a grocery store on South Mall Drive in St. George, Utah, Dec. 16, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News
St. George officers responded Saturday evening to a pharmacy on South Mall Drive and what was originally reported as a forgery in progress.
According to charging documents filed in support of the arrest, responding units were advised that a suspect had presented three prescriptions, which police say turned out to be fraudulent.
The report also states the pharmacy staff contacted the prescribing physician’s office and were advised the doctor had written no such prescriptions. They also learned there were additional reports of forged prescriptions being dropped off at other pharmacies in the area.
The pharmacy contacted emergency dispatch advising the suspect had returned and was waiting for the prescriptions to be filled.
Officers arrived to find the woman who matched the description provided, and after speaking to the suspect, the officer turned his attention to the pharmacy staff to obtain additional information.
As soon as the officer did so, the suspect, who was sitting a few feet away in the lobby, attempted to run.
“She was apprehended several feet from where she tried to run,” the officer noted, and the suspect was then detained by police.
The suspect was later identified as Sara Souryasak, 26, of Oakland, California, according to the suspect’s state-issued ID card.
While speaking to police, the suspect said she “she made them herself,” referring to the three prescriptions, and she reportedly admitted to making the two driver’s licenses that were in other individuals’ names that were recovered during a search of the suspect.
Souryasak was transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility facing multiple charges, including two second-degree felony counts of producing false identification. She also faces three counts of possession of altered or forged prescriptions and one count of interfering with an arresting officer.
A check of court records revealed that on Nov. 20, the suspect was arrested by California Highway Patrol in Westminster, which is in Orange County approximately 30 miles south of Los Angeles.r. She was then booked into the Central Women’s Jail in Santa Ana facing one count each of grand theft auto, driving without a license and taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent.
Two days later, she made an initial appearance in Superior Court in Orange County where she pleaded guilty to two of the charges, one count of buying or receiving a stolen vehicle, a misdemeanor, and to the infraction for driving without a license. During the hearing, Souryasak was sentenced to serve six days in jail and was released shortly thereafter, according to court documents filed in the case.
Within days of her release, she was arrested at the pharmacy in St. George and booked into jail in Washington County where she was placed on a no-bail hold.
On Monday, the six charges were filed by the Washington County Attorney’s Office and four misdemeanor charges were added that include three counts of fraudulent manufacture to distribute or solicit a controlled substance and one count for failing to stop at command of police — bringing the total number of charges to 10.
Souryasak made an initial appearance in 5th District Court in St. George later that same day and a bail reduction hearing was scheduled for Thursday. Until then, the suspect remains in custody without bail.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.