In February 2021, the New Jersey Attorney General and the Drug Enforcement Administration announced the arrests of four people, including the former registered pharmacist-in-charge of a pharmacy in Allamuchy, Warren County. Prosecutors allege that from roughly April 2018 through October 2019 the group conspired to remove oxycodone and promethazine from the pharmacy under cover of falsified New Jersey prescription blanks, and that more than 30,000 high-dose 30 milligram oxycodone tablets were diverted.
According to the release, the prescription blanks were unlawfully taken from two hospitals, one in Paterson and one in Teaneck. One defendant, a pharmacy technician at the Paterson hospital, is alleged to have stolen the blanks. Two other defendants allegedly purchased the diverted drugs and helped falsify prescriptions, while the pharmacist allegedly agreed to fill the illegitimate prescriptions in exchange for payment.
The investigation was initiated with help from a county medical examiner's office and drew on data from the New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program, which flagged suspicious activity. A court-authorized search of the pharmacy in November 2019 recovered approximately 167 falsified oxycodone prescriptions, along with records and electronic devices whose contents linked the defendants.
All four were charged with second-degree conspiracy and distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, with additional theft and records-falsification counts against some defendants. In February 2020 the pharmacist had entered a consent order with the State Board of Pharmacy voluntarily surrendering her license, deemed a temporary suspension pending further Board action. The charges are accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.