By Scott Waldman, Albany Times Union, N.Y.
Jul. 18–BETHLEHEM — Joshua Garrett slipped thousands of narcotic painkiller pills out of the Delaware Avenue CVS pharmacy during his Albany College of Pharmacy internship, according to town police.
The scheme ended June 24, police Lt. Tom Heffernan said, when a co-worker spotted Garrett sticking a bottle of 100 hydrocodone pills in his pocket.
In the four months that Garrett, 22, was an intern, court records show, he allegedly netted 2,200 hydrocodone pills worth an estimated $1,813.
Garrett is the sixth student from the college charged with stealing drugs in the last four years. He was arrested after an investigation by town police and state Health Department narcotics enforcement officers.
In 2006, four pharmacy students were charged with stealing painkillers and sleep aids from the drug stores where they worked as interns or pharmacy technicians. In 2004, a student was arrested after police pulled over his swerving car and found 88 Oxycontin pills allegedly stolen from the pharmacy where he worked. The resolutions of those cases were not immediately available.
Albany College of Pharmacy spokesman Gil Chorbajian declined comment.
Students who obtain a pharmacy license through the state Department of Education must demonstrate “good moral character,” said department spokesman Jonathan Burman. A drug arrest does not necessarily bar someone from licensure but makes it more difficult.
Garrett posted $20,000 bail after a preliminary hearing in Bethlehem Town Court on July 3. He faces felony counts of grand larceny and criminal possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor attempted petit larceny. He is scheduled to appear in Town Court on Aug. 19.
Scott Waldman can be reached at 454-5080 or by e-mail at [email protected].
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