What Happened

The pharmacist in charge at a Maplewood, Minnesota pharmacy pleaded guilty on April 25, 2024, to obtaining oxycodone by misrepresentation after taking bottles of it from the pharmacy's inventory for personal use and falsifying records to hide it.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota, from March 2020 until June 2023 the pharmacist in charge knowingly and intentionally obtained bottles of oxycodone from the pharmacy's inventory for personal use. The pharmacist falsified the pharmacy's records to conceal the conduct.

The pharmacist pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on April 25, 2024, to one count of obtaining possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation. A sentencing hearing was to be scheduled at a later time. The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Maplewood Police Department.

What Went Wrong

  • One person was the only check on the stock. The pharmacist in charge controlled both the controlled-substance inventory and the records describing it, so no one else was positioned to notice a discrepancy.
  • Bottle-level shrink was concealed rather than detected. Whole bottles of oxycodone left inventory and the gap was hidden through falsified record entries instead of being surfaced by reconciliation.
  • No separation of duties between handling and record-keeping. The same person who had access to the stock could alter the records that were supposed to account for it.
  • The conduct ran for more than three years. From March 2020 to June 2023 the diversion continued before it was caught.

How It Could Have Been Prevented

  • Cycle counts and perpetual-inventory reconciliation with independent review, comparing physical bottle counts against purchase, dispensing and record data.
  • Segregation of duties so the person ordering, receiving or recording controlled substances is not the sole reconciler of them.
  • Documented investigation and escalation whenever a record-to-stock variance appears, with the findings reviewed by someone outside the pharmacy's day-to-day operation.
  • Audit trails on record edits showing who changed a quantity and when, reviewed periodically for unexplained adjustments.
  • A no-blame self-report pathway for impaired practice, and reporting to the DEA and the board when diversion is confirmed.

Related Guidance

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