'Deceitful' woman admits using forged Xanax prescription in Cork pharmacy

Court heard defendant had stolen the blank prescription from Cork University Hospital while she was visiting her uncle, who was a patient there

Judge called defendant 'conniving' and deceitful for stealing prescription from Cork University Hospital and then using it it a pharmacy.

The actions of a woman who stole a blank prescription from a Cork hospital, filled it out and took it to a local pharmacy to obtain drugs were described as conniving and deceitful by a district court judge.

Sergeant Tom Mulcahy told Clonakilty District Court that Orla Hefferan, aged 56, with an address at Rathmore, Raheen, Co Limerick, was charged with one count of making gain or causing loss by deception and one count of forgery in relation to an incident on September 17, 2025.

The court heard Hefferan went into Crowley’s Pharmacy, Scartagh, Clonakilty, at 2.30pm and presented the prescription for 60 Xanax tablets, which were dispensed. She paid €10.44 for the tablets and left the premises. When staff realised there was an issue with the prescription, gardaí were called but Hefferan had already left the area.

Hefferan was identified as the person who had presented the prescription when her car was traced through CCTV footage. She was interviewed on September 30, 2025, and admitted using the forged prescription to obtain the Xanax tablets. 

The court heard Hefferan had one previous conviction for larceny in 2022 from a court in Marbella for which she received a four-month suspended sentence.

Defence solicitor Conrad Murphy said Hefferan had obtained the blank prescription from Cork University Hospital while she was visiting her uncle, who was a patient there. He said she had suffered from mental health issues for many years and had raised two children by herself. He said Hefferan was currently being treated by community mental health services and was also the sole carer for her 89-year-old mother.

The court was told Hefferan wished to express her remorse and to apologise to the gardaí, the pharmacy and the hospital and was “extremely apologetic”. 

Judge Joanne Carroll said: “She will get little sympathy from me, this is deception.” 

She added: “It takes a conniving person to take a prescription pad from a hospital. It takes a very conniving person to forge a signature on it and it takes a deceitful person to go into a pharmacy with it.” 

The judge said Hefferan showed no consideration for the doctor she stole the prescription from and no consideration for the pharmacy she used it in. 

For deception, Hefferan was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and for forgery she received the same sentence. Recognisance for appeal was fixed on her own bond of €100.

This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme