What Happened
Melissa Paradise, 43, of West Barnstable, Massachusetts, was sentenced on June 15, 2022 in federal court in Boston for stealing hydrocodone from the veterinary office where she worked. She received time served, about one day in prison, and one year of supervised release. She had pleaded guilty on February 10, 2022 to six counts of acquiring a controlled substance using another person's registration number and eight counts of acquiring it by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception and subterfuge. As office manager, she admitted using a veterinarian's DEA registration number without consent to order the drugs for personal use and forging a second veterinarian's signature.
“Paradise admitted to investigators that she used the DEA registration number assigned to a veterinarian in the practice without the veterinarian’s knowledge or consent”
Related Guidance
- 15 Red Flags of Drug Diversion — Behavioral and transactional indicators of diversion.
- Investigation Playbook — How to investigate suspected diversion inside an organization.