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  1. Press Releases

Pharmacy Manager Indicted for Tampering with a Consumer Product and Obtaining Opiates by Fraud

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Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Vermont

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 13, 2022

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Brian Thomas Badgley, 37, of Waterbury, Vermont appeared yesterday in United States District Court in Burlington for an arraignment on a two-count indictment charging him with tampering with a consumer product, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1365(a), and obtaining controlled substances by fraud in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 843(a)(3).  Badgley entered a plea of not guilty and was released on conditions.

According to the indictment, Badgley is alleged to have tampered with a bottle of Hydromorphone oral solution by removing a quantity for his own use, and then diluting the remaining contents of the bottle with liquid Benadryl and distilled water.  Badgley is alleged to have reattached the tamper seal on the bottle with clear tape and returned the diluted Hydromorphone oral solution to the inventory of the pharmacy, from which it could have been administered to pharmacy patients.  Badgley is also alleged to have obtained Hydromorphone tablets and Hydromorphone solution through misrepresentations and fraud, specifically by entering false entries into the pharmacy ordering system, entering false pill counts into the inventory system, and diluting the oral solution.  At the time of the alleged criminal conduct, Badgley was the pharmacy manager of the CVS located in Berlin, Vermont.  

According to public records of the State of Vermont’s Board of Pharmacy, in 2016, Badgley had strict conditions placed on his pharmacist license after he was suspected of having diverted narcotics while employed as a pharmacy manager at Northwestern Medical Center.  During those proceedings, Badgley admitted to stealing Hydromorphone from the hospital after his employment had been terminated.  In 2020, the Board of Pharmacy removed the conditions from Badgley’s pharmacist license.  On September 24, 2021, after the conduct alleged in the indictment came to its attention, the Board of Pharmacy summarily suspended Badgley’s pharmacist license. 

The charges against Badgley are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty. Badgley faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for the tampering charge, and a maximum sentence of 4 years for obtaining controlled substances by fraud.

United States Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest commended the investigatory efforts of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation, and the Berlin Police Department.

Badgley is represented by Robert Backus, Esq. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt represents the United States.

Topic(s): 
Consumer Protection
Prescription Drugs
Health Care Fraud
Component(s): 
USAO - Vermont

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