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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A former pharmacy technician at Regional One was caught and arrested for illegally filling prescription drugs.
It took over a year for her to get her pharmacy license revoked. FOX13 learned the initial offense happened in April of 2016.
It led to an unknown number of opioids hitting the streets of Memphis, proving that the opioid epidemic continues to spread.
Regional One is where patients go to heal and get better, but an affidavit outlines how a pharmacy technician possessed, and filled illegal prescriptions putting illegal opioids on the Memphis Streets.
According to police, back in 2016, the technician was caught filling a fraudulent prescription with 120 oxycodone pills while someone waited inside to pick up the order and another person waited outside.
Police said the technician had done the same scam between 4-5 times before.
We contacted Regional One about the incident and they told us via email their internal checks and balances tipped them off to the crime saying, suspicious activity relates to prescriptions filled in the pharmacy was noted and quickly examined. A pharmacy employee was questioned and the issue was reported to law enforcement.
“The problem with drug use and abuse is wide spread, and we just have to tighten up on it,” said Linda Stevens.
Stevens is a director of nursing and has seen the opioid epidemic affect her profession as well as other professions in the medical field. She said how far the epidemic has gone is not a surprise.
“Nationwide, we have a problem with drug use period. So it’s not uncommon that that would affect people in healthcare because it’s happening all over the country,” said Stevens.
Regional One has assured us that they have reviewed their processes and procedures, and will continue to do so, to ensure these types of crimes won’t happen at their facility again.
We can tell you the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy recently revoked the license of the pharmacy technician.
What they didn’t tell us, is why it took them over a year to do so.
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