Pharmacy supplied ‘red-flag’ opioids for years in NC, feds say. It was fined $1 million
A pharmacy in Eastern North Carolina is accused of becoming a haven for “drug seekers” by recklessly filling hundreds of prescriptions for opioids despite obvious red flags, prosecutors say.
Now it owes the U.S. Department of Justice more than $1 million in fines.
Seashore Drugs Inc. in Wilmington agreed to pay a $1.05 million civil penalty in a consent order filed Thursday that also bars the pharmacy’s owner and head pharmacist from distributing controlled substances and continuing to serve in their current roles, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced in a news release.
Owner John D. Waggett and pharmacist-in-charge Billy W. King II are accused of filling prescriptions for high doses of opioids for extended periods of time and giving early refills — often to patients who were known drug abusers, prosecutors say.
“These pharmacists abandoned their code of ethics,” Robert J. Murphy, special agent in charge of the DEA, said in the release. “If diversion of controlled substances is suspected, pharmacists must investigate and resolve any red flags before filling a prescription. These steps are necessary to comply with the law and to protect patient health.”
Under the terms of the order, Waggett is permanently banned from dispensing opioids and controlled substances. King is barred from dispensing some controlled substances — including most opioids — for at least 180 days, and he will be monitored by the Drug Enforcement Administration for three years.
Both men are also forbidden from managing, owning, operating or becoming the pharmacist-in-charge at any business that distributes controlled substances, according to Thursday’s news release.
But Seashore Drugs, Waggett and King “make no admissions regarding the allegations in the complaint,” the order states.
Prosecutors filed a civil lawsuit in October that accused them of violating the Controlled Substances Act — a federal law that regulates the U.S. drug industry. The allegations reportedly date to at least May 11, 2015.
For the four years that followed, prosecutors said, Waggett and King ignored at least eight “red flags” and multiple patients with obvious patterns of drug abuse.
That included filling “suspicious” combinations of prescriptions “that are highly unlikely to serve a legitimate medical purpose,” according to the complaint. They also reportedly filled refills early and ignored when patients were clearly “doctor shopping” — a term used when people seek prescriptions from multiple providers, particularly after a doctor suspects a person of struggling with drug abuse and stops writing the prescription.
Some patients had received prescriptions from 10 or more doctors in just five years, and one had prescriptions from at least 26 doctors, court filings state.
Prosecutors said Waggett and King also filled prescriptions from providers in other states, gave out high doses over a prolonged period of time — sometimes to multiple people living in the same house — and accepted cash payments from people whose insurance would have otherwise covered it unless they were suspected of drug abuse.
“Over time, Seashore developed a reputation in the Wilmington pharmacy community as a place that filled the prescriptions other pharmacies refused,” the complaint states. “Even within the pharmacy, King would often fill prescriptions that other Seashore pharmacists, no longer on shift, had previously refused to fill.”
On one occasion, prosecutors said, employees even reported seeing customers exchange drugs on a bench in front of the pharmacy.
“King refused to address these concerns on the grounds that he had no control over what happened outside the pharmacy,” the complaint states.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 3:26 PM with the headline "Pharmacy supplied ‘red-flag’ opioids for years in NC, feds say. It was fined $1 million."
