Eyota Woman Facing Federal Drug Charges

A Rochester area woman is facing federal drug charges, accused of using bogus identities to buy or attempt to purchase large amounts of prescription painkillers.

A federal indictment filed against 50-year-old Nanci Dusso of Eyota charges her with obtaining Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, and codeine by using false names, dates of birth, and social security numbers. Prosecutors say between January and November 2013, Dusso used at least 31 aliases to obtain or attempt to obtain prescription opiates from health care providers at Mayo Clinic satellite locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The indictment says she may have obtained more than 6,000 prescription opiates since 2008 and visited more than 150 doctors in at least 11 different offices. A nurse practitioner at one Mayo Clinic site became suspicious and reported Dusso to security. At least two Mayo satellite sites later reported she had tried to obtain prescription pain pills.

According to the indictment, she commonly used out-of-state identities when visiting health care providers, often employed a story in which she complained of shoulder pain, and indicated that she was visiting a family member suffering from cancer. If Dusso successfully convinced a health care provider to prescribe medication, a physical therapy or pain management appointment would also be arranged for her. However, the defendant did not attend these appointments.

The criminal complaint says when defrauding these health care providers, Dusso used stolen social security numbers of people both living and deceased and from numerous states. At different health care appointments, she listed her address as from Colorado, Utah, Oregon, and Kentucky.