Case Database
Filter every documented case by date, drug, state, setting, role, prosecution status, and penalty. Search accepts brand or generic drug names, facility names, and cities.
Showing 17 of 730 cases.
| Case / When | Where | Setting | Drug | Method | Role | Prosecution status | Penalty | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Elkin pharmacy ordered to pay $500,000 penalty and enjoined from filling red-flag opioid prescriptions
2025-02
|
North Carolina | Independent pharmacy in Elkin | Prescription opioids and combination prescriptions | not stated | Pharmacy owner and four pharmacists | not stated | none documented | source |
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WakeMed nurse charged with stealing fentanyl from IV bag
2024-10
|
North Carolina Raleigh, NC |
WakeMed | fentanyl | Allegedly had access to the drug through the job and stole 2,500 mL of fentanyl from an IV bag on Oct. 19. | not stated | Charged with two felony counts: embezzling/diverting a controlled substance by registrant/employee and obtaining possession of a controlled substance by fraud/forgery; arrested Oct. 30; out on bond; next court date Nov. 19; no longer employed by WakeMed. | none documented | source |
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Wilmington family-medicine physician paid $170,000 to resolve allegations of unlawful opioid prescribing
2023-06-23
|
North Carolina | Family medicine practice in Wilmington | Oxycodone and other Schedule II opioids, benzodiazepines and muscle relaxers | not stated | Physician | not stated | none documented | source |
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Raleigh-Area Nurse Sentenced for Tampering with Surgical Patients' Painkillers
2023-05-22
|
North Carolina Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina |
Surgical practice, Fuquay-Varina/Raleigh, NC | Fentanyl, morphine, meperidine | Extracted drug from 78+ vials, refilled with saline | not stated | Pleaded guilty; sentenced May 2023 to 48 months | none documented | source |
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Surgical practice nurse sentenced for tampering with fentanyl, morphine, and meperidine and replacing them with saline
2023-05
|
North Carolina Raleigh, NC |
a Raleigh-area surgical practice | fentanyl, morphine, and meperidine | extracted medication from vials of fentanyl, morphine, and meperidine and replaced it with saline, compromising at least 78 vials, including those intended for surgical patients; testing found compromised vials contained less than 15% of the actual medication and that tampering rendered multiple vials unsterile | not stated | sentenced to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release; pleaded guilty to the charges; plea agreement requires permanent surrender of the nursing license | none documented | source |
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North Carolina Hospital Nurse Sentenced for Tampering With Hydromorphone Vials
2022-06-01
|
North Carolina Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
Hospital pre/post-procedure unit, Winston-Salem, North Carolina | Injectable hydromorphone | Removed hydromorphone from sealed vials in an automated medication dispensing/monitoring system, injected it herself, refilled vials with saline, and reglued tamper seals before returning them to patient-use stock | not stated | Convicted of tampering with a consumer product; sentenced to 54 months in prison plus 3 years supervised release. She was already serving a three-year prison sentence for a related consumer-product-tampering conviction at a hospital in Danville, Virginia. | $3,000 (criminal fine) | source |
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Aspirar Pharmacy Pays $100K for Filling Invalid Opioid Prescriptions
2022-02-03
|
North Carolina Cary / Durham, North Carolina |
Aspirar Pharmacy, two locations (Cary/Durham, NC) | Controlled substances — invalid prescriptions filled 2017-2018 | Filled prescriptions from Dr. Sharon Halliday, who wrote them outside the scope permitted by her Duke University faculty limited license, without confirming her license's validity | not stated | Civil settlement, $100,000 + DEA memorandum of agreement to stop filling for the practice — announced Feb 3, 2022 | $100,000 (civil settlement) | source |
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North Carolina pharmacy chain paid $100,000 to resolve claims it filled prescriptions from physician on limited license
2022-02-03
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North Carolina | Community pharmacies in Cary and Durham | Controlled substances (unspecified) | not stated | Retail pharmacy (two locations) | not stated | none documented | source |
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Contract nurse at Winston-Salem hospital diverted hydromorphone and replaced it with saline
2021-12
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North Carolina Winston-Salem, NC |
Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center | injectable hydromorphone | Removed vials of injectable hydromorphone from an automated dispensing cabinet machine, injected the drug into herself, replaced the drug with saline solution, used glue to replace the lids, and returned the contaminated vials to locked drawers. | not stated | Pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a consumer product; sentenced to four years and six months in federal prison, a $3,000 fine, and three years of supervised release; nursing license suspended. | none documented | source |
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Farmville pharmacy and pharmacist-in-charge ordered to pay $600,000 and permanently barred from dispensing controlled substances
2020-02-03
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North Carolina | Independent pharmacy in Farmville | Oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, methadone and potentiators such as diazepam, alprazolam and zolpidem | not stated | Pharmacy owner and pharmacist-in-charge | not stated | none documented | source |
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Charlotte pharmacy technician convicted of embezzling oxycodone via fraudulent prescription
2019-05-09
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North Carolina | Retail chain pharmacy drive-thru, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County | Oxycodone (with a Percocet prescription also presented) | not stated | Pharmacy technician | not stated | none documented | source |
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Gaston County general practitioner's license revoked after felony conviction for prescribing controlled substances without a legal medical purpose
2008-11-20
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North Carolina | Medical practice, Bessemer City, Gaston County | Controlled substances (not specified) | not stated | Physician (general practice) | not stated | none documented | source |
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Mooresville pharmacist's license suspended indefinitely for unauthorized consumption of controlled substances
1995-01
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North Carolina Mooresville, NC |
Practice | controlled substances | Consuming controlled substances without authorization | not stated | Prior stay terminated; license to practice suspended indefinitely | none documented | source |
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Graham pharmacist's license suspended indefinitely for obtaining and consuming controlled substances without authorization
1995-01
|
North Carolina Graham, NC |
Practice | controlled substances | Obtaining and consuming controlled substances without authorization | not stated | License to practice pharmacy suspended indefinitely | none documented | source |
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Charlotte pharmacist's license suspended indefinitely for altering prescriptions and unauthorized controlled substance use
1995-01
|
North Carolina Charlotte, NC |
Charlotte, NC | controlled substances | Altering prescriptions for controlled substances; obtaining and consuming controlled substances without authorization | not stated | License suspended indefinitely | none documented | source |
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Durham pharmacist admitted unauthorized Sufentanil use; license suspended 30 days, stayed five years
1995-01
|
North Carolina Durham, NC |
Durham, NC | Sufentanil | Admitted use of Sufentanil without authorization | not stated | License suspended 30 days, stayed five years with conditions; accepted by the pharmacist and the Board | none documented | source |
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Pharmacist at Fairview Pharmacy Consultants obtained and consumed controlled substances without authorization
1994-03
|
North Carolina Fairview, NC |
Fairview Pharmacy Consultants | controlled substances | obtaining and consuming controlled substances without authorization | not stated | license suspended indefinitely, stayed for five years with conditions | none documented | source |
Every filtered view has its own URL, so it can be linked or bookmarked. The same filters work on the JSON feed: /api/cases.json.
What each column does and doesn't cover
Every case states When (date) and Where (state) — 730 of 730. Beyond that, a blank cell means the source record does not state that fact, not that it did not happen:
- Setting: stated in 649 of 730 cases (89%)
- Drug: stated in 657 of 730 cases (90%)
- Method: stated in 474 of 730 cases (65%)
- Prosecution status: stated in 474 of 730 cases (65%); a documented penalty (fine, settlement, or restitution) exists for 77 of 730 cases (11%)
- Role: stated in only 255 of 730 cases (35%) — filtering or sorting by role silently hides the rest of the registry, which may still describe the same role in prose without a structured field
Why: documented failure modes
A separate text analysis of the 723 case summaries found 371 cases (51.3%) matching at least one named failure-mode pattern below. 352 cases (48.7% of 723) matched none of these categories - most of these are short board-order summaries ("licensee diverted controlled substances from their employer") that state an outcome without describing a mechanism, not cases where no failure occurred. A case can match zero, one, or several categories — these are corpus-level counts, not a per-case tag, and are not used as a row filter above: reproducing the exact category membership per case from the stored patterns did not exactly match this file's hand-curated counts on independent re-check, so no individual case here is labeled with a "why" that this code cannot verify.
Text names an act of replacing/refilling the drug with a named substitute (saline, water, an OTC pill, a cleaning product, etc.), OR uses swap/dilute/tamper to describe the same act, so the altered container went back into use looking unchanged.
Text uses stole/stealing/embezzled to describe removal of controlled substances.
Text uses a form of "falsif-" within 60 characters of a record-type noun (chart, inventory, transaction, receipt, prescription, etc.).
Text explicitly characterizes the prescription(s) as fraudulent, forged, invalid, or issued outside legitimate medical practice (including "pill mill" language).
Text names an automated dispensing cabinet/machine, or the acronym ADC, as part of the mechanism.
Text describes recording or claiming drug as "waste" (when it was not), pulling drug from a waste stream, or wastage that was not independently witnessed.
Text describes cancelling, voiding, or falsely entering a system transaction (an order, a return-to-stock entry, a cancel entry) specifically to conceal a removal.
Text states the FACILITY (not an individual concealing personal use) failed to maintain required inventory/records, or names a recordkeeping violation/negligent recordkeeping as the basis for the government action.
Text describes using a fictitious patient profile, a false name/identity, stolen patient information, or impersonating a licensed prescriber to obtain the drug.
Text states a failure to notify or report a loss, theft, or suspected diversion to a regulator.
Disclaimer
Case summaries are based on public records (DOJ press releases, court documents, news reports). Charges are allegations unless a conviction is noted. Analysis is educational, not legal advice.
Last reviewed: September 2026 · Content is educational, not legal advice.