Pike pharmacist, his wife and co-worker indicted in federal drug and fraud case

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A Pike County pharmacist, his wife and a co-worker are facing numerous charges in connection with a fraud and drug distribution indictment filed late last week in U.S. District Court in Pikeville and unsealed Friday.

The indictment charges H. Fuller with five counts of distribution/dispensation of codeine, 20 counts of distribution of phentermine, zolpidem, tramadol and alprazolam, 25 counts of unlawful use of means of identification to facilitate a drug trafficking offense and nine counts of health care benefit fraud.

The indictment charges his wife, K. Fuller, also known as K. Woods, with nine counts of health care benefit fraud and a charge of federal benefit fraud, while the indictment also charges H. Fuller’s co-worker S. Moore with a charge of theft of a pre-retail medical product by an agent or employee in the supply chain.

According to the indictment, H. Fuller was working as a pharmacist at the Rite Aid Pharmacy in McCarr, when, beginning in about June 2016 and through April 2017, he illegally dispensed and distributed Schedule III and Schedule IV drugs to co-workers, as well as his wife, without a valid prescription being prescribed or issued by the reported prescribing physician.

H. Fuller, the indictment said, issued prescriptions in the name of a Matewan, West Virginia, physician who had not issued the prescriptions and had no knowledge that these prescriptions had been issued in his name.

In addition to the drug charges, the indictment alleges that K. Fuller acquired $5,000 or more worth of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits between January, 2010, and February, 2017, to which she knew she was not entitled because her “resources and income exceeded the threshold limits established by law for the receipt of such benefits.”

The charge against Moore, the indictment said, is linked to her allegedly taking, carrying away and concealing a pre-retail medical product, a box containing the prescription drug buprenorphine, while employed at the Rite Aid Pharmacy in McCarr.

Court documents show the indictment was issued on June 27 and unsealed Friday. Both H. Fuller and K. Fuller were scheduled to appear in court for an initial appearance on the charges Friday, but the results of that hearing were not available as of presstime.