Pharmacy tech stole medicine from veteran’s mailboxes, feds say. ‘Cruelty and greed’

A Texas man is accused of using his position as a pharmacy technician to steal medicine from the mailboxes of dozens of veterans, federal officials say.

Investigators say Scott Mitchell Brown, 38, carried out the scheme while working as a pharmacy tech at the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Kerrville — roughly 65 miles northwest of San Antonio, according to a Feb. 20 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Texas.

McClatchy News reached out to an attorney listed for Brown on Feb. 22 but did not immediately receive a response.

Throughout March and April of 2021, veterans living in Kerrville, and the neighboring communities of Ingram and Center Point, noticed prescriptions seemed to be disappearing from their mailboxes, according to court documents filed May 17, 2021.

In the space of just two months, investigators counted about 40 victims, all with similar stories — missing medications and mailboxes that had been broken into, documents read. In a few cases, veterans said some of the prescriptions would still be there waiting for them, apparently untouched — but their painkillers were gone.

There was a pattern: Someone was taking hydrocodone and oxycodone from their mailboxes, often the same day it was delivered, according to the documents.

Investigators turned their attention to the source of those medications, the Kerrville VA hospital pharmacy. While reviewing security camera footage taken in the facility’s pharmacy area, investigators noticed some odd behavior on the part of a pharmacy tech.

The technician, identified as Brown, could be seen in a back room “cutting large clear bags that contain individually packaged prescription mailings,” investigators said.

Investigators also obtained doorbell camera video that captured a 2002 Chevy Silverado pickup — a suspect vehicle in the mailbox break-ins — which was “associated to what Brown drives to and from work,” court documents said, adding that the truck was also seen parked outside an apartment building where Brown lived.

Brown was taken into custody, along with two other men officials say were accomplices, according to the news release.

“Using his position, Brown devised a scheme to steal narcotics that were being shipped from the pharmacy to VA patients, stealing the narcotics and selling them for profit to individuals in the Kerr County area,” officials said.

More specifically, prosecutors say Brown accessed the personal information and medical records of patients, learned what drugs they received, then went to their homes and raided their mail, robbing them of their painkillers.

“Brown’s misuse of his position with the VA is a repugnant betrayal by a public servant against our nation’s veterans,” U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas said.

On Feb. 20, a federal judge sentenced Brown to three and a half years in prison on charges including possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of stolen mail and theft of government property, according to officials.

“These veterans rely on the care and compassion of the VA to assist them with ailments and disabilities. Instead, the veterans victimized by Brown and his codefendants were met with cruelty and greed,” Esparza said. “My office and the Department of Justice will continue to seek justice for those who have sacrificed so much for our country.”

Brown’s co-conspirators were sentenced in 2022, with one receiving a year in prison and the other receiving about three years, the release said.

This story was originally published February 22, 2024 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Pharmacy tech stole medicine from veteran’s mailboxes, feds say. ‘Cruelty and greed’."