Diversion Case Studies

Pharmacy technician accused of removing pills from a filled Oxycontin prescription and returning it to conceal the theft

Rockville, MD

A pharmacy technician at a retail pharmacy chain in Rockville, Maryland was alleged to have removed pills from a customer's filled Oxycontin prescription and returned the prescription to the staging area, after which the customer reported 198 of 270 pills missing. The technician reportedly admitted to unethical conduct, was suspended, and later resigned. The State Board of Pharmacy summarily suspended the technician's registration pending a show cause hearing.

South Burlington physician pleaded guilty to prescription fraud after writing prescriptions under fictitious names

State police alleged that between 2004 and 2011 a South Burlington physician created fictitious patient names and obtained at least 288 fraudulent prescriptions for herself at area pharmacies. The case was reported by a coworker who became suspicious when a pharmacy called about a prescription for a name the coworker did not recognize. The Attorney General's Office prosecuted, and in 2012 the physician pleaded guilty to one count of prescription fraud and received a four-year deferred sentence with no jail time.

DC hospital medical technician sold patient data and blank prescription forms used for forged oxycodone scripts

A former medical technician at a Washington, DC university hospital pleaded guilty in June 2012 to wrongfully disclosing individually identifiable health information and was sentenced in September 2012. According to the statement of offense, from August 2010 through December 2011 the technician sold the names, addresses, dates of birth and Medicare numbers of about 40 patients, along with blank hospital prescription forms, to another person, receiving about $2,100 in total. That person forged oxycodone prescriptions and gave pharmacies the technician's hospital phone number for verification, and the technician confirmed the prescriptions when pharmacists called. The sentence included three years of probation, with the first six months in a halfway house and the next six in home confinement, plus 100 hours of community service and a $2,100 fine.

Lutz pharmacist sentenced to 17 years for dispensing oxycodone on fraudulent prescriptions and to a DEA confidential source

A Tampa-area pharmacist was found guilty by a federal jury on August 21, 2012, of one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone outside the usual course of professional practice and five counts of distributing oxycodone outside the usual course of professional practice. Evidence at trial showed that from at least 2007 the pharmacist dispensed oxycodone to customers presenting fraudulent prescriptions or no prescriptions at all, and beginning in 2011 sold thousands of pills to a confidential source working with the Drug Enforcement Administration. The pharmacist was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison and forfeited a DEA registration, a Florida pharmacy license, $40,000 in cash and two vehicles.

Pharmacy technician admitted diverting Valium, Promethazine/Codeine Syrup, Vicodin, Loratadine, and Soma from Pharmacy A

A pharmacy technician admitted in a letter of surrender to diverting Valium, Promethazine/Codeine Syrup, Vicodin, Loratadine, and Soma from Pharmacy A from the fall of 2010 until the spring of 2011. The technician stated the drugs were obtained for a family member and a friend, not for personal use. The Board had summarily suspended the technician’s registration on January 31, 2012, and the technician permanently surrendered the registration; the Board accepted the surrender as a final order.

Mississippi licensed practical nurse given 12-month restricted license over drug possession and record falsification grounds

The Mississippi Board of Nursing's July 2012 disciplinary summary lists a licensed practical nurse placed on restricted licensure for a minimum of 12 months with drug-related stipulations. The cited grounds were falsifying or negligently making incorrect entries on records and possessing, obtaining, furnishing or administering drugs to any person, including self, except as legally directed. The summary does not name a drug or workplace, and the action may reflect either a hearing decision or an agreed order.

Mississippi registered nurse voluntarily surrendered license amid drug misappropriation ground

The Mississippi Board of Nursing's July 2012 disciplinary summary records a registered nurse's voluntary surrender of license. The cited ground was unprofessional conduct in that the nurse misappropriated drugs, supplies or equipment. A voluntary surrender is not a finding after hearing, and the summary does not identify the drug, the workplace, or how the matter arose.

A pharmacy technician diverted narcotics by taking and selling them, and the pharmacy's controlled-substance records were found inaccurate as a result

A pharmacy's permit application disclosed that one of its pharmacy technicians had taken narcotics and sold them, resulting in the technician's termination and license revocation. A state board order found the pharmacy failed to keep accurate records of hydrocodone and alprazolam receipt and disposal over a multi-year period, and placed the pharmacy on probation and fined it.

Overland Park pharmacy technician stole hydrocodone and lorazepam, falsified inventories; sentenced to federal probation

A 26-year-old pharmacy technician at a retail pharmacy in Overland Park, Kansas, pleaded guilty to a federal felony charge of obtaining prescription drugs by fraud and was sentenced to two years of federal probation. In the plea, the technician admitted stealing more than 500 hydrocodone tablets and about 200 lorazepam tablets between April and October 2011 and falsifying the store's written inventories to conceal the thefts. The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case.

Nursing Home Nurse Sentenced for Tampering with a Dementia Patient's Morphine — Kansas, 2012

Topeka, Kansas

Wendy M. Parmenter, a licensed practical nurse who had already pleaded guilty in 2010 to stealing hydrocodone at a different Emporia, Kansas nursing home and been placed on pretrial diversion, went on to work at Rolling Hills Health Center in Topeka. There, in November 2010, she stole morphine prescribed for a 105-year-old dementia patient and added tap water to the bottle to conceal the theft. She pleaded guilty to tampering with a consumer product and drug adulteration, was sentenced to three years in federal prison, and agreed to permanently surrender her nursing license.

Nursing Facility Nurse Sentenced for Tampering with Patients' Morphine — Kansas, 2012

Salina, Kansas

Melanie French Morrison, a charge nurse at Holiday Resort Nursing Facility in Salina, Kansas, who was addicted to pain medication, removed morphine from patients' vials with syringes and replaced it with sodium chloride solution to conceal the theft, then took the morphine home to inject herself. The scheme was discovered in February 2010 when a nursing director found tampered vials and Morrison tested positive for opiates. She had previously been fired from a Wichita hospital in 2009 for taking Percocet without a physician's order. She pleaded guilty to consumer product tampering and drug adulteration and was sentenced to three years in federal prison.

Nurse Sentenced for Diverting Hydromorphone via Drug Cabinet Login Credentials — Minnesota, 2012

Minnesota

Della Rae Thalin, a nurse at a Minnesota hospital, used her unique login credentials to access automated medication dispensing/monitoring cabinets and remove hydromorphone, which she took out of the hospital for her own use over about three weeks in early 2011. She was charged in August 2011 and pleaded guilty in October 2011 to obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. In January 2012, a federal judge sentenced her to three years of probation. The DOJ press release announcing the sentence did not name the specific hospital involved.

Westchester pharmacy technician charged with trafficking oxycodone, hydrocodone and alprazolam after DEA parking-lot arrest

A 27-year-old Westchester County man employed as a pharmacy technician in Mohegan Lake, New York, was arrested on December 19, 2011 and charged by federal criminal complaint with prescription pill trafficking. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York, agents arrested him after he attempted to sell a large quantity of prescription medication in a parking lot in Amherst, New York, and seized over 350 oxycodone, hydrocodone and alprazolam tablets. The complaint is an accusation only, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Psychiatrist reprimanded for prescribing Ritalin to her spouse without medical justification

Ridgecrest, CA

The Illinois Board of Medicine fined a psychiatrist after she admitted prescribing Ritalin to her spouse without adequate documentation of medical necessity. The Maryland Board of Physicians subsequently issued a reciprocal reprimand based on that finding.

Sisseton pharmacy technician pleaded guilty to health care fraud over hydrocodone theft

A pharmacy technician employed at a tribal health care center in Sisseton, South Dakota, pleaded guilty on November 28, 2011, to one count of health care fraud in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors stated that between July 2008 and May 2009 the technician took approximately 10 hydrocodone pills from the facility. The count carried a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment, and the case was investigated by the HHS Office of Inspector General.

Internal medicine physician summarily suspended over chronic cocaine and opiate use

Baltimore, MD

The Maryland Board of Physicians summarily suspended an internal medicine physician after determining that his chronic and active use of cocaine and opiates posed a substantial likelihood of risk to public health and safety. No facility or additional detail on how the drugs were obtained was given.

Former state developmental center employee sentenced to prison for selling oxycodone in Cumberland County

A Millville man who had worked as a training technician at a state developmental center was sentenced to five years in state prison after pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance. He admitted selling 80 oxycodone tablets to an undercover Division of Criminal Justice detective on each of two occasions in February 2011. The Attorney General's release states there is no evidence he obtained the narcotics from his place of employment, and he was terminated after his arrest. As a result of the plea he is permanently barred from public employment in New Jersey.

Four Connecticut pharmacy technicians charged with stealing and selling prescription drugs

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut announced charges against four pharmacy technicians accused of stealing and selling prescription drugs. The announcement launched 'Operation Pharm Team,' an initiative aimed at the illicit sale of prescription drugs. The charges are allegations; the extracted release does not describe outcomes.

Psychiatric Hospital Settles Unregistered Methadone Clinic Allegations — Massachusetts, 2011

Georgetown, Massachusetts

Baldpate Hospital, a private psychiatric hospital in Georgetown, Massachusetts, settled civil allegations with the DEA and the U.S. Attorney's Office after the government alleged the hospital operated a clinic dispensing methadone to heroin-addicted patients without registering as a DEA Narcotic Treatment Program. The government also alleged the hospital failed to maintain required records and inventories of the methadone in its possession. Without admitting wrongdoing, the hospital agreed to pay $29,500 to resolve the claims.

Anesthesiologist admitted to repeatedly ingesting illicit substances and evading toxicology screens

Baltimore, MD

The Maryland Board of Physicians suspended an anesthesiologist after he admitted to repeatedly ingesting illicit substances and deliberately evading detection on toxicology screens. The conduct also violated a prior consent order with the Board.

Physician assistant wrote unauthorized prescriptions for controlled dangerous substances for her own personal use

Hagerstown, MD

The Maryland Board of Physicians revoked a physician assistant's license after finding that she wrote unauthorized prescriptions for Controlled Dangerous Substances for her own personal use. The Board also cited substance abuse issues and unprofessional conduct.

Hospital Nurse Sentenced for Siphoning Dilaudid from Patients' IV Bags — Minnesota, 2011

Coon Rapids, Minnesota

Maria Ann Mihalik, a nurse at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, entered the hospital in May 2010 and used a syringe to draw Dilaudid out of patients' IV bags for her own use. She pleaded guilty in March 2011 to one count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and was sentenced in June 2011 to three years of probation, including 180 days in a halfway house and 150 hours of community service. The Minnesota nursing board separately barred her from practicing nursing in the state.

Manhattan, Kansas registered nurse pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and obstruction

A registered nurse from Manhattan, Kansas, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and one count of obstructing justice, according to a June 2011 release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas. Two co-defendants in the same case were awaiting sentencing later that summer. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation handled the investigation.

South Dakota tribal health center pharmacy technician sentenced after hydrocodone theft plea

A pharmacy technician at a tribal health care center in Sisseton, South Dakota, was indicted in August 2010 on charges of obtaining controlled substances by fraud and health care fraud, and pleaded guilty to health care fraud in February 2011. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, between August 2008 and January 2009 the technician took quantities of hydrocodone from the facility while appearing to dispose of or restock drugs from unclaimed prescriptions. The technician was later sentenced in federal court; the release excerpt does not state the sentence terms.

Respiratory care practitioner took controlled dangerous substances from her workplace

Frederick, MD

The Maryland Board of Physicians found that a respiratory care practitioner took controlled dangerous substances from her workplace. She was reprimanded with terms and conditions upon applying for reinstatement.