U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General South Central Field Office 4040 N. Central Expwy, Suite 500 Dallas, TX 75204-3158 (214) 253-3360
Monday, February 03, 2003
Former VA Employee Sentenced for Drug Theft
John McDermott, Special Agent in Charge, South Central Field Office, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG), announced today that on February 3, 2003, Beverly Scott, a pharmacy technician formerly employed at the VA Medical Center in Houston, TX, was sentenced today in United States District Court, in the Southern District of Texas, located in Houston, TX. Scott was ordered to serve 37 months incarceration at a Federal facility. Following her release, Scott will be required to serve an additional 36 months on probation. Scott was also ordered to pay the VA $424,575 in restitution. McDermott stated that Scott’s sentencing was the culmination of investigative efforts by his Houston Resident Agency and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations. The indictment disclosed that from approximately 1997 to July 2000, three VA Medical Center employees conspired to remove large amounts of non-controlled pharmaceutical drugs from the VAMC Pharmacy, where they were employed. The employees then exchanged these drugs for cash with an independent pharmacist in the Houston, TX, area, who then sold them to the public from his privately owned pharmacy business. Loss to the Government exceeded $1.3 million over the past three years. Scott was the last defendant in this case to be sentenced. Assistant United States Attorney Samuel Louis, of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston, TX, prosecuted the case.