Rowan authorities charged a Salisbury couple following a large scale prescription fraud scheme that appears to have begun in mid-2014, officials said.

The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office arrested Delbert Dean Roys, 46, and his wife, Christie Michelle Roys, 47, of the 200 block of Edgewood Farm Road, following a Thursday traffic stop. The two were pulled over along Interstate 85 by a N.C. Highway Patrol trooper.

Delbert Roys was charged in Rowan County with two counts of conspiracy to traffic opium/heroin, and three counts of obtaining controlled substances (oxycodone and alprazolam) by fraud. He was issued a $500,000 secured bond.

Christie Roys was charged in Rowan, Cabarrus and Mecklenburg counties with five counts of trafficking opium/heroin, one count of attempt to traffick opium/heroin, eight counts of obtaining controlled substances by fraud, three counts of attempting to obtaining controlled substances by fraud, four counts of possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver controlled substances, and three counts of possession with intent to sell or deliver a controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a school (Granite Quarry Elementary). She was issued a $520,000 bond.

At the time of the stop, the Roys were already under investigation by numerous law enforcement agencies in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, which include the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Stanly County Sheriff’s Office, Thomasville Police Department, Kannapolis Police Department, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and the Gaston County Sheriff’s Office.

The investigation showed that since at least August 2014 the Roys were manufacturing fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam (commonly known as Xanax), and Estradiol (a steroid) using doctor’s names from Kannapolis, Charlotte and Huntersville.

The prescriptions were being passed or attempts were made to pass prescriptions at pharmacies in the Piedmont that include Salisbury, Rockwell, Granite Quarry, China Grove, Charlotte, and Kannapolis.

At the time of their arrest, Christie Roys and Delbert Roys were on probation in the sate of Oklahoma. There was an outstanding arrest warrant for Christie Roys in Oklahoma charging her with passing a fake check and obtaining controlled substances by fraud.

The investigation is ongoing and more arrests and charges are expected, investigators said.