State prosecutors allege that the former pharmacist-in-charge of a retail pharmacy in Allamuchy Township, a pharmacy technician employed at a Paterson hospital, and two other individuals conspired from April 2018 through roughly October 2019 to remove oxycodone and promethazine from the pharmacy under cover of falsified New Jersey prescription blanks. According to the charges, the blanks had been taken from two hospitals, and the pharmacist agreed to fill the illegitimate prescriptions in exchange for payment. Prescription records reportedly indicate more than 30,000 30 milligram oxycodone tablets left the pharmacy through the scheme.
The case surfaced in September 2019 when the Monmouth County Medical Examiner's Office passed information to investigators about suspicious activity at the pharmacy, including oxycodone prescriptions being filled in the name of a deceased person for up to a year after his death and a sharp spike in the number of controlled substance dosage units dispensed. Analysis of New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program data by the Division of Consumer Affairs Enforcement Bureau supported the investigation.
Investigators executed a search warrant at the pharmacy on November 7, 2019, recovering approximately 167 falsified oxycodone prescriptions dated between April 27, 2018 and September 26, 2019, along with records and electronic devices. Review of seized cellphones showed communications between a pharmacy technician and the other defendants that, prosecutors say, reflected purchases of the diverted drugs and participation in falsifying the prescriptions.
All four were charged with second-degree conspiracy, second-degree distribution of oxycodone and fourth-degree distribution of promethazine; three were additionally charged with falsifying records, and the hospital technician with theft. In February 2020 the pharmacist entered a consent order with the State Board of Pharmacy voluntarily surrendering her license, deemed a temporary suspension pending further board action. The charges remain allegations unless proven in court.