It was an under-the-counter bust.
An NYPD sting has netted a Harlem pharmacist accused of filing $21,000 in bogus Medicaid claims for pricey prescription drugs used to fight AIDS, mental illness and anemia, The Post has learned.
Pharmacist Patrick Alcindor was caught paying an undercover cop sums of cash at least five different times in exchange for written prescriptions for HIV treatment drugs that include Reyataz, Truvada, Prezista and Norvir, according to a criminal complaint filed by Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office.
In one encounter, Alcindor allegedly paid cash for written prescriptions for Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic medication, and Procrit, which helps fight anemia.
Alcindor, 41, working at Procare Pharmacy at 1728 Amsterdam Ave. at 145th Street, then used the prescriptions to bill Medicaid for thousands of dollars without dispensing any pills.
The Medicaid payments he sought were for “thousands of dollars more” than the kickbacks he paid the undercover officer for the prescriptions, the complaint said.
For example, Alcindor and the pharmacy billed Medicaid more than $2,000 for the Procrit prescription, the complaint said.
Alcindor even billed for phony refills for the prescriptions he never dispensed in the first place, prosecutors said.
The complaint alleges that Alcindor exchanged cash for prescriptions with the undercover cop on Jan. 8 and Feb. 19 this year and Oct. 9, Oct. 29 and Nov. 20 last year.
Probers also arrested an alleged accomplice, pharmacy worker Brulinda Delorbe, 29.
On March 9, the undercover officer handed Delorbe a prescription for Norvir. In exchange, Delorbe gave the undercover money and a bottle of pills.
She then spoke to Alcindor by phone and subsequently took back the pills from the officer.
Alcindor — who has a criminal hearing June 23 — faces three charges of criminal diversion of prescription drugs, grand larceny and falsifying business records.
Vance suggested more prescription-fraud cases are coming.