FEDS: Farmville pharmacist ignored opioid 'red flags'

A Farmville pharmacist will have to pay a $600,000 civil penalty and the pharmacy will permanently surrender its Drug Enforcement Administration registration.

Farmville Discount Drug and Bob Crocker were recently sued in federal court by the U.S. Attorney's Office, claiming they repeatedly filled opioid prescriptions and ignored well-known "red flags" of drug diversion and drug-seeking behavior.

The feds say Crocker and the pharmacy filled highly abused prescription-drug cocktails for long-distance patients, filled opioid prescriptions for multiple members of the same family, filled prescriptions for a customer that Crocker knew had been cut off from other pharmacies, and the pharmacy filled prescriptions for patients who hopped from doctor to doctor or pharmacy to pharmacy.

A news release says when other employees expressed concern to Crocker about some of the ongoing practices, he dismissed those concerns, saying that if a doctor wrote the prescription the pharmacy would fill it.

As part of a consent judgment, Crocker will never seek renewal of his DEA registration or pharmacy license.

An attorney for Crocker and the pharmacy said there was never any judicial determination or admission of liability regarding the allegations. "Both parties agreed to the settlement to avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience, and expense of protracted litigation," said Summer McKeivier in a statement. "Mr. Crocker specifically agreed to the compromise in light of his retirement and the sale of his business prior to the allegations."

Records show Crocker owned Best Value Drug on North Main Street in Farmville and it closed last fall.

Farmville agreed to settle the allegations filed in the Government’s complaint for the amount of $600,000 in civil monetary penalties by way of a Consent Judgment and Permanent Injunction. There has been no judicial determination nor admission of liability regarding the allegations in the complaint. Both parties agreed to the settlement to avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience, and expense of protracted litigation. Mr. Crocker specifically agreed to the compromise in light of his retirement and the sale of his business prior to the allegations.

-Summer McKeivier, attorney for Bob Crocker and Farmville Discount Drugs