BUTLER TWP — A Butler Township man is accused of forging a doctor's prescription last month in a failed attempt to obtain potent painkillers.

Michael R. Lucas, 41, was caught, township police said, after an employee at the Target pharmacy in Butler Commons on Oct. 2 called the physician to verify the prescription.

The doctor said he did not write Lucas the allegedly bogus prescription for 60 OxyContin pills.

He later told police a number of prescription sheets had been previously stolen or somehow turned up missing from his office in Butler Township.

Investigators interviewed Lucas, who claimed his legitimate prescription for OxyContin "was stolen out of his van," a police affidavit said, "and the unknown (thief) must have placed the forged prescription in his van."

But the defendant allegedly admitted he took that forged prescription to the Target pharmacy to acquire the painkillers, documents said.

Police on Thursday charged Lucas with forgery, fraudulent attempt to acquire a controlled substance, possessing an instrument of crime, access device fraud, receiving stolen property and attempted possession of a controlled substance.