Rite Aid Pharmacist Arrested on Suspicision of Stealing Prescription Drugs

Some Rite Aid customers in Modesto, California are concerned that they’re getting fewer than the correct number of prescribed pills. Following the arrest of Dennis Zetter, a former pharmacist who is charged with stealing prescription drugs, Rite Aid is urging their customers to check to make sure they received the right number of pills. A spokeswoman for the company recently stated that customers who think they’ve received placebo pills or a lower dosage than prescribed, can have the pharmacy check.

Of even more concern is the fact that Zetter was a so-called “traveling pharmacist”, or a pharmacist who travels to several different stores to work. Since Zetter traveled from job-to-job at various California Rite Aid pharmacies, police fear that he may have stolen from more than one store. Police ultimately busted Zetter at a Rite Aid at the end of last month, after the store’s security caught him with a stash of drugs in his car. According to police, the pills included various types of codeine medications. In total, Zetter had over 350 pills in his possession that night.

The store’s security officers suspected Zetter of stealing pills after witnessing the 61-year-old travel back and forth to his car in the parking lot several times. Zetter was also suspected of drinking alcohol on the job and security officers later discovered that a coffee mug that he was drinking from the night of the theft did, indeed, contain an alcoholic beverage. Zetter was arrested and was booked in the county jail for possession of a controlled substance, possession of an uncontrolled substance, and burglary.