News

Pharmacy technician charged in theft of meds

By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
Published: January 14, 2009

SALEM — A pharmacy technician at the Shaughnessy-Kaplan Rehabilitation Hospital has been arrested after police found three bags containing dozens of types of medication in a car outside the hospital Sunday evening.

Wanda Lopez, 24, of 157 Maple St., Danvers, was seen by hospital staff bringing several bags out of the hospital, according to police, who were called by hospital security shortly after 7 p.m.

Police found more than 61 different types of medications, from aspirin to Zyprexa, a prescription anti-psychotic, in three bags inside a car registered to her father-in-law, who gave permission for police to search the vehicle.

Police do not know what Lopez intended to do with the large amount of medication, said Salem police Lt. Conrad Prosniewski.

Among the medications were painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs, including Klonopin and lidocaine. But there were other drugs, including the blood thinner Heparin, the anti-seizure drug Dilantin, insulin, prednisone, lithium, Spiriva, Risperdal and even a few nicotine patches.

Security guards told police that Lopez had approached them and asked to be let back into the pharmacy to look for her wallet, which she said she had lost.

She was allowed to use her key code to re-enter the pharmacy with the guards. At some point, the guards left after she was unable to find her wallet.

The guards later noticed her walking around the hospital with a plastic bag that she had not been carrying before entering the pharmacy. She put a coat over the bag, the guards told police.

A security guard eventually walked her to her car, as other guards were calling police. She put the bag and the coat into the car, then went back inside with the guard. A switchboard operator later told police she had seen Lopez make two other trips to the car, carrying brown paper bags both times.

When police showed up, the guards told them Lopez had been locked inside a restroom for five to 10 minutes and was refusing to come out.

When the police finally entered, they found Lopez, who appeared nervous, with "pinpoint" pupils.

Lopez is charged with receiving stolen property worth more than $250 and with possessing controlled substances.

She pleaded not guilty during her arraignment yesterday in Salem District Court, where Judge Robert Cornetta released her on a $500 personal surety bond.

He ordered that Lopez stay away from the Salem Hospital campus, which includes Shaughnessy-Kaplan, expect for a medical emergency.

According to the state Department of Public Health, Lopez is a pharmacy technician who was first licensed in Massachusetts last April.

John Jacob, a spokesman for the DPH, said that an investigation is underway and Lopez could face disciplinary action ranging from suspension to revocation of her license.