CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have arrested two optometrists in connection with a prescription drug bust.
Detectives with the CMPD's Pharmaceutical Diversion Unit arrested doctors Benjamin Hobbs, 37, and Samuel Hobbs, 40, for their role in a prescription fraud investigation. The men are brothers.
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Investigators began an investigation after they were alerted to suspicious prescriptions. The informant said that prescriptions were filled and returned to both men at the Clear View Eye Care, OD.
Court records show Samuel Hobbs would write prescriptions for hydrocodone for patients and then tell them to bring the filled prescription back for a follow-up visit.
Documents stated he would steal the pills and replace them with vitamin tablets. In one incident, the arrest warrant states Samuel Hobbs stole 25 tablets from a 70-year-old woman.
Once at the practice, a portion or all of the prescription pills were removed from the victims' prescription bottles containing hydrocodone, police said.
Detectives determined that both doctors have prescribed a large amount of hydrocone pills for patients.
Both men were charged with trafficking opiates, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, and larceny.
Samuel Hobbs is scheduled to be in court Wednesday afternoon for a first appearance.
Benjamin Hobbs was taken to a hospital for a medical condition, according to CMPD. Officers said he would be booked Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office upon his release.
The bond of Samuel Hobbs was set at $100,000 and he may already be out of jail.
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