A woman pretended to be a doctor for a year and wrote prescriptions for controlled substances, authorities said

• Prosecutors charged a woman whom they said posed as a medical doctor for more than a year.
• Maria Macburnie used a relative's medical license to write prescriptions, authorities said.

A woman with no medical qualifications posed as a doctor for more than a year, writing prescriptions for patients under a relative's identity, authorities said.

In a statement issued Thursday, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey said Maria Macburnie posed as a doctor between March 2022 until June this year at Shore Medical Associates in Toms River.

Macburnie, 62, has been charged with practicing medicine by an unlicensed person; forgery; health care claims fraud, and three counts of distribution of a controlled dangerous substance.

"Macburnie presented herself as Dr. Fe Almazon-Condit – a relative of Macburnie's with an active license to practice medicine," the statement read.

"During this time frame, Macburnie was prescribing medications, including controlled dangerous substances, to patients."

She also submitted multiple insurance claims and bills for services rendered when "Dr Almazon-Condit" was unable to see patients.

She was arrested on Wednesday and was being held in the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing, the prosecutor's office said. Insider could not establish whether she had a lawyer.

Prosecutors also asked that anyone who believed they'd been treated by Macburnie to contact the office.

An automated message for Shore Medical Associates said it was now permanently closed, NBC News reported.