An Omaha company that allegedly dispensed more than 10,000 prescriptions in Iowa without the required license has been fined $5,000 by the state.
According to records of the Iowa Board of Pharmacy, Precision Direct Rx, an Omaha-based company, was granted a pharmacy license to do business in Iowa on Aug. 26 of last year. But in the five months leading up to the license being approved, Precision Direct allegedly “distributed over 10,000 prescriptions into Iowa without a nonresident pharmacy license,” the board claims.
At its January meeting, the board voted to cite the company for operating a pharmacy in Iowa without a current pharmacy license, in violation of Iowa law. The citation carries a $5,000 penalty. The company was also warned that any future violations may result in additional penalties.
The Board of Pharmacy also took action involving several other licensees in unrelated cases:
Cheveux, LLC – The board voted to deny the license renewal application of this Arizona-based limited liability corporation, citing its repeated failure to comply with Iowa regulations. On March 16 of last year, the board received an initial pharmacy license application from the company, which was signed and dated by the owner on March 12. That application identified pharmacist Whitney Morejon as the person in charge. The license was approved on April 18.
The board later determined that on March 8, before Cheveux submitted its application, Morejon had informed the Arizona Board of Pharmacy he no longer worked at Cheveux. Morejon had been replaced by Christopher Duiven, but as of May 3, Duiven no longer worked for the company.
In June, pharmacist Evan Cleaver was the designated person in charge, but on Aug. 3, he notified the Iowa board he had resigned from Cheveux. On Dec. 20, Cheveux submitted a license renewal application, which the board denied at its January meeting, citing eight regulatory violations related to the company’s person-in-charge reporting requirements.
Katelynn Parmer – The board has scheduled a hearing on a charge that Parmer, a registered technician trainee from Decatur, diverted prescription drugs from a pharmacy to her own use or for distribution to others. Due to a recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling, the board has redacted from the public statement of charges all of the factual circumstances surrounding the charge.
However, police and court records indicate that last October, Parmer was criminally charged with possession of a controlled substance and theft. The records indicate that between Sept. 24 and Oct. 4, Parmer was working at the Wal-Mart pharmacy in Osceola when surveillance video captured footage of her, on at least three separate occasions, stealing Tramadol tablets from the pharmacy.
Parmer allegedly admitted to police she stole the drugs and did so with the intent of selling them to others. The theft charge was later dismissed, and Parmer pleaded guilty to the possession charge. She was sentenced to pay a $1,400 fine and was placed on one year of probation
Randy Nicoski – The board agreed to issue a Nicoski a pharmacist license after reviewing prior disciplinary action in another jurisdiction. In 2019, the Oregon Board of Pharmacy had fined Nicoski $500 after finding that the pharmacy he ran at Vibra Specialty Hospital of Portland had outdated medications on hand; expiration dates were not noted on compounding formula records; nursing units were not properly inspected; cleaning records were incomplete; testing was not adequately performed; and drugs were not properly stored.
Kindra Kruse – The board accepted Kruse’s voluntary surrender of her pharmacy license. Kruse had previously been accused of diverting to her own use controlled substances that she took from the pharmacy where she worked. After learning of the complaint against her, Kruse self-reported the violation and was placed in a drug-monitoring program. She then went to work for a CVS pharmacy, but subsequent blood-chemical screens indicated a continued use of alcohol, violating the terms of a previous agreement with the board.
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
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