Too Clever For Their Own Good

In 2012 a deadly meningitis outbreak was traced back to a drug compounding firm in Framingham Massachusetts called the "New England Compounding Center."  When indictments were handed down in 2014, in addition to the second degree murder charges were charges for fraud against government.  Apparently the company claimed to have filled prescriptions for fictitious patients and charged the federal government. The investigation unearthed an e-mail from the company's owner cautioning his employees that, "All names must resemble 'real' names...no obviously false names! (Mickey Mouse.)"

The clever employees conjured such fake customers as, "Chris Rock, Alex Baldwin, Michael Jackson, Fat Albert,Wonder Woman, Martha Stewart, Samuel Adams, Hugh Jass, Freddie Mae, Fannie Mac,Ned Flanders, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Harry Potter and Coco Puff, among others."

The "News of the Weird reports additional names of, "Baby Jesus, . . . L.L. Bean, . . . Mary Lamb, all of the Baldwin brother actors, and a grouping of Bud Weiser, Richard Coors, Raymond Rollingrock and,of course, Samuel Adams."

They would have called less attention to their crimes if they used the alias list from Psych. Criminals often suppose themselves to be more clever than they actually are.

Read the indictments here.

Click here or on the image below to see a CBS News report on how NECC customers supplied fake names to secure cheaper drugs from NECC rather than complying with the law.