Houston Pharmacist Convicted at Retrial

What Happened

A federal jury in the Southern District of Texas convicted Hieu “Tom” Truong, 60, of Houston, in June 2024 after a retrial. Truong was the pharmacist-in-charge at S&S Pharmacy, now shuttered. Prosecutors said that in 18 months he and accomplices distributed over 750,000 doses of controlled substances, including over 500,000 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, dispensed in bulk for cash on forged prescriptions brought by street-level dealers. He was originally convicted in May 2022 and received a new trial after the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Ruan. He faces up to 20 years per count and is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 23.

“The jury convicted Truong of two counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances.”
U.S. Department of Justice / U.S. Attorney's Office press release, Jun 10, 2024

Related Guidance

15 Red Flags of Drug Diversion — Behavioral and transactional indicators of diversion.
Investigation Playbook — How to investigate suspected diversion inside an organization.

Sources

U.S. Department of Justice / U.S. Attorney's Office press release, Jun 10, 2024

Case at a Glance

Setting: Pharmacy (S&S Pharmacy)
Drug: Oxycodone, hydrocodone and other controlled substances
Method: Bulk dispensing for cash based on forged prescriptions brought by street-level dealers
Status: Convicted at retrial June 2024 on two counts; sentencing set for Sept. 23

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

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Where this record connects to the site's working material. Links are chosen from the case's setting, drug and method fields.

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Last reviewed: September 2026 · Educational content, not legal advice.

About the author

DivertGuard is built and maintained by Alex Rodriguez, MHIIM, CPhT (also known as Jesus Rodriguez) — a drug diversion prevention program manager with more than a decade in pharmacy practice, including direct responsibility for a health-system controlled substance diversion prevention program.

Conference presentations

2025 — The Rounding Revolution: A High-Tech Approach to Diversion Prevention (with Emily Spiceland, PharmD)
2024 — No Pill Left Behind: Strategies for Comprehensive Drug Accountability (with Eric Andrews)
2022 — Ready for My Close Up! Implementing, Maintaining, and Expanding Drug Diversion Prevention Cameras (with Jeremy Quinn, Shawn Young, and John Bailey)

Other professional engagement

Faculty, ASHP Drug Diversion Certificate
Speaker, Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA)
Published author, Pharmacy Purchasing & Products

Credentials

Doctorate candidate — Doctor of Health Informatics (DHI), Rutgers University, School of Health Professions; research on health data analytics and the prediction of cognitive decline
MHIIM — master's in health informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center (2019–2021)
CPhT — Certified Pharmacy Technician, with 10+ years of pharmacy practice across retail, hospice, compounding, home-health, and hospital settings

The assessment items, weighting, and case registry behind this site come from that operational background — building and running a diversion prevention program, not from vendor marketing. Every tool here is free, requires no signup, and is based on published regulatory and professional standards (DEA, Joint Commission, ASHP, CDC).

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Registry Insights: Sentences, Fines, States and Outcomes

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