A federal Drug Enforcement Administration investigation running from summer 2004 to December 2008 examined a physician and several associates, including a pharmacy technician at a Glendale, California retail pharmacy, for a suspected conspiracy to divert controlled substances including oxycodone, hydrocodone and hydromorphone products. The physician's medical license had been revoked effective March 10, 2005, and the Board's accusation alleged the pharmacy went on to dispense 157 of his prescriptions, 120 of them for controlled substances.
Local police arrested the technician on October 19, 2005, and he was questioned for one to two hours by officers and DEA agents without counsel. A federal indictment for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances followed on November 3, 2005. The physician later pleaded guilty in 2007 and was sentenced to 70 months in prison. The technician resolved his criminal case through a court diversion agreement, which the administrative law judge noted rested on a limited admission.
At the Board hearing, a DEA analyst testified that the technician had admitted collecting cash from the physician several times a month and advising the pharmacist to order more oxycodone. The technician disputed parts of that account. The judge observed that the interview was not recorded, that no contemporaneous notes were produced, and that none of the other agents present testified.
The Board of Pharmacy adopted the administrative law judge's proposed decision on July 17, 2013, effective August 16, 2013. The specific disciplinary order for the technician does not appear in the portion of the decision reviewed.