CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A pharmacy theft case out of Mingo County, one the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy has called the largest pharmacy theft on record in the Mountain State, could be used as an argument for changes to how Suboxone is classified.
Marcia Evans, 60, of Gilbert, who worked as a pharmacy technician at Gilbert’s Riverside Pharmacy, will be sentenced on Oct. 2 for taking more than 160,000 doses of both Suboxone and Xanax between 2014 and Sept. 2016.
“This person only faces up to ten years for this crime and the reason is because Suboxone is a Schedule III drug,” said U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart during an appearance on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
He called the possible sentence “disappointing.”
Evans has entered a guilty plea to a federal charge of conspiracy to distribute Suboxone.
In this case, investigators said Evans concealed the shortage in controlled substances that were being taken from the pharmacy by manipulating the count in the pharmacy computer system.
An audit from the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy compared shipment records with distribution records and determined more than 23,000 dosage units, or strips, of Suboxone had been stolen along with more than 137,000 dosage units, or pills, of the anti-anxiety med known as Xanax.
The drugs were being sold in Gilbert and surrounding areas, Stuart said.
“This is a community of 412 people,” he said. “It’s a pretty outrageous crime.”
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of WV, Mike Stuart, joins @HoppyKercheval to explain the details of the largest pharmacy theft in WV history. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/OQvCbKPHsB
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) May 24, 2018
Evans is the second person to plead guilty to crimes for the drug scheme.
Kimberly McCoy, who’s admitted to obtaining Suboxone by fraud, was scheduled to be sentenced to up to four years in prison on Aug. 29.
Xanax is used to treat anxiety while Suboxone is typically prescribed to reduce symptoms of opioid withdrawal.
When not utilized as intended, “Suboxone is a greatly abused drug all across the country. It’s a substitute for heroin and we need to change that schedule from Schedule III to Schedule I or Schedule II,” Stuart argued.
Drug scheduling determines sentencing. The most severe penalties are linked to Schedule I controlled substances.
On Thursday, Stuart said a letter requesting the schedule change from the U.S. Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration was being drafted.
“We just have to make sure we’re doing all we can to recognize the damage done to this community and those neighboring communities there,” Stuart said.
The Riverside Pharmacy investigation was handled through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Opioid Fraud Abuse and Detection Unit, a national pilot program that includes 11 other districts in addition to the Southern District of West Virginia.