Pharmacist Charged With Stealing Thousands of Hydrocodone Tablets

A Maryland pharmacist has been charged with the theft of more than 7300 tablets of hydrocodone, a painkiller found in Vicodin and Lortab.

Parvin Ossareh, 51, allegedly stole 1 tablet on July 1, 2013, then took 250 tablets 10 days later from a Giant Food store pharmacy in Bethesda, according to WJLA, an ABC-7 affiliate.

Appearing to go undetected, Ossareh managed to allegedly steal 2200 total hydrocodone pills by that September. It wasn’t until June 2014 that the pharmacy noticed fraudulent transactions and confronted Ossareh, according to WJLA.

Allegedly caught in a bind, Ossareh called in sick the next day and never came back to the store.

Noting that the matter was still under investigation, a spokesperson for the grocery store did not comment when asked by the TV station why it took so long to notice that thousands of tablets were missing.

Ossareh has been charged with a theft scheme of $1000 to $10,000 and will face the Montgomery County District Court on December 4, 2014, according to WJLA.

"There are always bad apples. No matter where you go, there are always going to be bad apples. That's just a constant in life, it really is," a retired nurse and customer at the Giant store told WJLA.