She duped 18 doctors into giving her codeine
To feed her drug habit, she impersonated others to get medication from polyclinics
To obtain her codeine fix, housewife Eileen Siak impersonated several women between April 23, 2014 and March 4, last year to dupe 18 doctors into giving her codeine-based cough syrup worth about $525 in all.
Court papers did not mention how she got hooked on the drug.
She pleaded guilty in court yesterday to seven counts of cheating involving $265.
Fourteen other cheating charges involving $260 will be taken into consideration during sentencing.
Siak, 33, who is married and has a five-year-old daughter, used to work for a wellness company, Health and Lifestyle, between 2009 and 2011.
While there, she received a database on a set of customers which included their personal particulars such as their NRIC numbers and contact details.
Instead of storing these particulars in her then-employer's e-mail account, she saved them in her private e-mail folder.
She did not delete them when she left the firm.
In 2014, she visited clinics almost daily to get cough syrup.
But they stopped providing her the medication as she was getting it regularly.
Siak used some of the names in her database to get hold of the cough syrup from two National Healthcare Group Polyclinics (NHGP) in Bukit Batok and Jurong.
She registered for appointments with them via her mobile phone.
She managed to dupe the doctors into prescribing her the drug.
CRIME SPREE
Deputy Public Prosecutor Vadivalagan Shanmuga said that, at first, she paid for the medication. But later, she would leave without paying.
Her crime spree ended after NHGP senior manager, Ms Serene Foo Ai Buay, 52, lodged a report at Bukit Batok Neighbourhood Police Centre on March 16, last year.
Ms Foo noticed someone had been booking appointments with NHGP by calling the hotline using the same mobile phone number, but with different particulars each time.
And after seeing the doctor and collecting the medication, this person would leave without paying.
Due to her condition, DPP Vadivalagan asked District Judge Shawn Ho to call for a report to determine Siak's suitability for a Mandatory Treatment Order (MTO).
An MTO is for offenders who suffer from psychiatric conditions. They must go for psychiatric treatment in lieu of jail time.
Siak's lawyer, Mr Josephus Tan, agreed and told the court that his client's codeine dependency started as early as June 2013 and that she had made full restitution.
Siak will be back in court on Jan 13.
For each cheating charge, she can be jailed up to three years and fined.
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