CLEVELAND — A Cleveland Clinic employee stole prescription drugs from the hospital to sell on the street.
The man now faces prison time after pleading guilty in federal court last month.
It’s a case of drug diversion, which happens in various healthcare settings, like hospitals.
The Ohio Board of Pharmacy says employee theft is one of the biggest kinds of drug diversion.
Prescription painkillers are stolen to feed addictions or to pad one's own pockets.
Curtis Green, the man in the federal case, worked at Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest.
"We removed him as sort of a threat to other pharmacies around the state,” said Ohio Board of Pharmacy’s Cameron McNamee.
Between December 2022 and April 2023, pharmacy board records show Green placed fraudulent orders through a wholesaler.
The allegations revealed Green stole more than 16,000 oxycodone tablets and over 50 vials of fentanyl of various strengths, among other controlled substances.
Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest had no idea.
McNamee confirmed a pharmacist did not oversee what Green was doing.
Green was a registered certified pharmacy technician at Hillcrest. His role included counting pills. Green was also a pharmacy buyer.
“They can have access to the system to order controlled substances, but they can’t have unsupervised access,” McNamee said.
In Green’s case, McNamee says the pharmacist wouldn’t necessarily have to sign off on the orders but must be part of the ordering process.
"When he was found to have stolen these drugs his registration was immediately suspended,” McNamee said.
Records show in April 2023, the Suburban Police Anti-Crime Network or S.P.A.N. Drug Enforcement Unit executed a search warrant at Green’s apartment in Mayfield Heights.
They seized fentanyl, marijuana, a pill press, a laptop, guns and nearly $75,000 in cash, along with Green’s Cleveland Clinic ID badge.
“We’re still not out of the opioid crisis so as far as we’re concerned, we’re still seeing a pretty steady rate of drugs being diverted,” McNamee said.
Just in Northeast Ohio, the pharmacy board received 480 reports of theft or significant losses of controlled substances from 230 pharmacies from 2022 to now.
“The majority of the doctors around this country want to do the right thing,” said Martin Redd, DEA Diversion Program Manager for the Detroit Field Office.
Redd says people with an addiction usually divert prescription drugs to self-medicate at home.
He gave News 5 Investigators an example of an extreme case.
"I have witnessed one case where an anesthesiologist was diverting drugs while the patient was on the bed and fell asleep right there at the table,” Redd said.
S.P.A.N. investigators say legit pharmaceuticals carry a premium price for drug dealers, and they’re hustled as safer alternatives to street drugs.
“Drugs that are coming from an unknown source you have to be very very careful, especially in today’s climate with counterfeit drugs that is a huge area with DEA right now,” Redd said.
“We don’t ever want to have a situation where something is diverted and it ends up killing somebody,” McNamee said.
In the Green case, the pharmacy board cited Hillcrest Hospital for failing to follow security and control requirements. The matter ended in a settlement agreement.
“Where they agreed to pay a $20,000 fine,” McNamee said.
News 5 Investigators asked McNamee what can be done to stop drug diversion.
“I would say no system is foolproof,” McNamee said.
In 2019, the pharmacy board moved away from paper forms to an electronic reporting system to better track and assign cases. There are also unannounced inspections.
"So we go in there and we kick the tires and look at things to try to prevent this from happening,” McNamee said.
Whatever a pharmacy has in stock and what’s been dispensed must add up during inventory counts.
“It’s gotta basically balance out just like a checkbook,” Redd said.
Redd says distributors also have a responsibility to flag suspicious orders.
Should there be better safeguards?
“You’re always looking at how we can better improve things,” McNamee said.
The pharmacy board also has requirements for wholesalers. In the Green case, the board opened an investigation into the one that received Green’s orders.
Last month, Green agreed to a plea deal in federal court and was found guilty of possession with intent to distribute.
His sentencing is set for February.
The Cleveland Clinic issued a statement:
“We’ve worked with the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to resolve this matter. When we initially became aware of the situation, we immediately notified law enforcement and the Board. We have cooperated with the investigation, and the employee has been terminated. Furthermore, we have evaluated all pharmacy protocols and have put additional operational and security measures in place.”
