Woman posing as pharmacist for 11 YEARS handled over 700,000 prescriptions without a license at a Bay Area Walgreens, lawsuit claims
- Kim Thien Le’s license expired in 2008
- Her tenure at three Walgreens locations lasted from 2006 to 2017
- She is now the subject of a new 14-page accusation filed by the California State Board of Pharmacy
- She allegedly filled 745,000 prescriptions – more than 100,000 of which involved controlled substances
- Colleagues saw her administering vaccines and counseling patients about their prescriptions
For more than a decade, a Walgreens employee allegedly posed as a pharmacist – administering vaccines and authorized over 745,000 prescriptions without a license.
Kim Thien Le held a pharmacy technician license until it expired in 2008.
But for most of Le’s tenure at three Walgreens locations – Fremont, Pleasanton and San Jose, from 2006 to 2017 – she did not, according to a new 14-page accusation filed by the California State Board of Pharmacy.
She allegedly filled 745,000 prescriptions – more than 100,000 of which involved controlled substances.
When asked for proof of her license, Le would allegedly provide the numbers of two people with similar names.
For most of Kim Thien Le’s tenure at three Walgreens locations – from 2006 to 2017 – she did not, according to a new 14-page accusation filed by the California State Board of Pharmacy
‘There’s a major difference between a pharmacist and a pharmacist technician,’ Bob Davila, spokesman for the board, told KTVU.
‘Pharmacists have to go through a lot of educational requirements and meet stringent state requirements to get a license.’
According to the legal documents, inspectors were alerted that a common anxiety medication had been distributed without standard labeling.
The bottles of Alprazolam were allegedly missing certain watermarks and a refill limit.
The prescription featured Le’s name.
Le was allegedly questioned by investigators, and immediately apologized, offering to pay a fine and cease work as a pharmacist.
Once her offer was rejected, she claimed she did have a degree from Creighton University, but that was found to be a lie.
Interviewing shocked employees, investigators allegedly found Le had ‘counseling patients regarding their prescriptions, administering immunizations/vaccinations to patients,’ and ‘supervising clerks, pharmacy technicians, intern pharmacists, and trainees.’
The case against Le is ongoing and investigators are mulling whether to pull the pharmacy licenses of the Walgreens locations that employed Le.