Ten people are facing charges in connection with a pill mill that allegedly generated fake prescriptions and filled them in 17 counties, including the Lehigh Valley.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Tracie Peurifoy, 37, of Philadelphia, was the ringleader.

Peurifoy was arrested May 14 and charged in York County with multiple felony drug counts and attempted corrupt organizations. She is being held in lieu of 10 percent of $150,000.

Peurifoy allegedly typed up fake prescriptions on her home computer using the names of physicians from across Pennsylvania; the doctors were not involved in the scheme, Shapiro said.

Peurifoy then gave the prescriptions to runners, along with rental cars leased in her name and instructions on which pharmacies to use, prosecutors said.

Peurifoy and the runners filled prescriptions in 17 different counties, including Northampton, Montgomery, Wayne, Berks and Philadelphia counties.

During the attorney general's nine-month investigation, the ring was allegedly able to get 3,500 pills of Oxycodone, Alprazolam and Flexeril.

The prescriptions were typically written for 120 tablets of Oxycodone, 60 tablets of Alprazolam, and various amounts of Flexeril tablets, according to the York Daily Record.

Investigators estimate the pills were worth about $75,000. The runners would get $150 for each filled prescription, the office said.

Shapiro said a Luzerne County doctor helped break the case. The doctor saw a prescription he did not write but that had been filled using his name.

The doctor contacted the attorney general's office, and investigators were able to get surveillance video of the prescription being filled.

Russel Morris, 32, of Melrose Park, Pennsylvania, was seen filling the fake prescription and leaving the store in a rental car leased by Peurifoy, investigators allege.

The Daily Record reported that on Aug. 5, Morris went to a Northampton County Rite Aid for the second time in about two weeks, and he tried to have two fraudulent prescriptions filled.

Morris was arrested that day on two felony counts of filling fake prescriptions in a York County case, and later charged with multiple counts in the attorney general case.

Morris is being held in jail in lieu of 10 percent of $150,000 bail, records show.

"Because of these doctors' vigilance, our agents and local police were able to identify and break up this prescription pill mill," Shapiro said. "We're asking pharmacists and medical professionals across our Commonwealth: If you see something wrong, say something. We'll act on your information."

Four people have been arrested and charged in the case:

Christian Eleby-Lackey, 30, of Philadelphia

Shane Harris, 24, of Elkins Park

Marquan Toure El, 24, of Philadelphia

Lueveater Smith, 37, of Philadelphia

Four others have been charged but are still at-large:

Latoya Peurifoy, 41, of Philadelphia

Sharee Hall, 33, of Chester

Dashonna Hoskins, 22, of Philadelphia

Troy Thomas, 29, Philadelphia

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.