Pharmacist reprimanded for lack of supervision

State board issues order against former druggist in charge at Front Royal CVS

By Sally Voth -- svoth@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- The pharmacist in charge of the CVS in Front Royal has received a reprimand from the Virginia Board of Pharmacy after someone stole OxyContin and Vicodin from the store.

The order was issued against Neil Singh Dhillon on Dec. 1, according to online state board records. It says he was the pharmacist in charge at CVS.

The Virginia Department of Health Professions' website,
www.dhp.virginia.gov/enforcement/cdecision/cd_advresults.asp, says Dhillon is a Strasburg resident.

A special conference committee of the pharmacy board met on Nov. 22 in Henrico, and determined that while the pharmacy department was being remodeled last March and April, Dhillon didn't provide enough supervision and security over the controlled drugs there.

He let an unlicensed person be alone in the department, where alarm codes for safes holding Schedule 2 drugs were visible, the online documents say.

"Further, the individual moved the security cameras that observed the Schedule II safes, allowing him several minutes of unobserved activity," they say. "When confronted, the individual admitted to stealing 619 tablets of oxycodone of various strengths (Schedule II) and 800 tables of hydrocodone of various strengths (Schedule III)."

As a result of the theft, Dhillon has stepped up security, including discussing security with his fellow pharmacists, back counting and doing more cycle counts, the documents say.

A woman who answered in CVS's pharmacy on Monday said Dhillon no longer worked there.

In an email, Mike DeAngelis, CVS/pharmacy public relations director, says the stores are committed to following all laws and regulations regarding the pharmacy industry.

"Following an isolated incident involving theft at our pharmacy in Front Royal, we took corrective action at the pharmacy to prevent this from occurring again," his email says.
In other recent Board of Pharmacy matters:

• Shenandoah Valley Compassionate Pharmacy in Winchester was fined $1,500 on Jan. 5, according to online documents. During an unannounced inspection on Nov. 1, 2010, there was no pharmacist on duty at first.

Instead, a patient advocate was present and had keys to the pharmacy and the alarm code, the documents say.

• Lantz's Pharmacy in Stephens City was ordered to pay $250 after it was found that an alarm couldn't go out to the alarm monitoring company if the communication line wasn't working, according to online records.