An Innisfail pharmacist is facing fraud and drug charges after allegedly manipulating and stealing thousands of narcotic pills through an extensive long-term scam that involved stock tampering and creating numerous phony prescriptions from stolen and false identities.
The female full-time staff pharmacist at the local Shoppers Drug Mart, who police and company officials have not yet identified, is also accused of committing the same crimes at a Red Deer outlet where she was a relief employee. Police believe the crimes were committed over an 18-month period.
ìWe are working closely with the RCMP on this investigation. Our number 1 concern is the safety and well-being of the patients at these two locations,î said Tammy Smitham, vice-president of communications and corporate affairs, from the company's head office in Toronto. ìWe believe that the tampering is isolated and will be working to immediately contact any patients who may have been impacted to ensure their health and safety. In the meantime, the individual in question has been terminated.î
Scott Blundell, front store manager at Innisfail's Shoppers Drug Mart, would not comment on the RCMP investigation.
On Feb. 13 Innisfail RCMP issued a news release stating the investigation began two days earlier when company officials came to the detachment following an internal security probe.
ìThey had quite a bit of information at that time. We are still fleshing out the circumstances,î said Innisfail RCMP Cpl. Jeff Hildebrandt, adding the accused's identity is not been released until charges are before the court. However, RCMP did say the accused is a resident of Red Deer, has been employed at Shoppers Drug Mart for more than two years and has no prior criminal record.
ìWe have to go through quite a bit of information here. It is quite extensive. It is over a long period of time,î said Hildebrandt, adding more charges could be laid against the accused after police and the Crown review all evidence. ìWe have to collect quite a bit of documentation and video evidence.î
RCMP said the crimes allegedly involve the theft of a potent narcotic called Dilaudid. Police added the product losses involve an estimated 14,000 Dilaudid pills, which allegedly involved the tampering and partial removal of capsule contents from stock on the shelf of the pharmacy. RCMP believe tampered capsules were emptied of between 20 and 50 per cent of their contents before being reassembled and returned to the shelf.
RCMP have not yet estimated the total value of the stolen Dilaudid capsules, said Hildebrandt.
The investigation began following reports from customers that there was noticeable decreased efficiency from their medication, said RCMP.
Hildebrandt said it's too early in the investigation to state how the accused's manipulation of fraudulent prescriptions managed to avoid detection for such a considerable length of time.
But he said ìtypicallyî in such cases the scam is done by manipulating computer databases with nonexistent prescription orders from false identities or even with names of real people who would never find out because orders were filled and payments made.
Hildebrandt said at this stage of the investigation there is no allegation of theft of store funds as it's alleged the accused paid for the narcotics with her own money after creating fraudulent prescriptions.
He said the accused was cooperative with police when arrested last week and was released on a promise to appear in court.
Hildebrandt said a date for the woman's first court appearance has been set for ìabout two months down the roadî, adding the exact date won't be released until police had ìall their ducks in a rowî from their ongoing investigation.
