TEXARKANA, Texas–A former staff member at Red River Pharmacy in Texarkana has been charged with theft of a controlled substance and diversion of a controlled substance for personal use.
Carissa Hicks, 32, is currently being held in the Bowie County jail with bonds totaling $250,000. Jail records show Hicks has been in custody since Jan. 4.
After noticing a shortage of more than 2,000 tablets of the painkiller Tramadol, the store’s pharmacy director began reviewing video surveillance in December, according to a probable cause affidavit. The footage allegedly revealed that Hicks was sneaking fistfuls of the medication into her purse or pockets during the day when she was supposed to be filling prescriptions in her role as a pharmacy technician.
The director advised that she watched two weeks of surveillance and had observed Hicks stealing the medication on 10 different occasions. Investigators with the Texarkana Texas Police Dept. reviewed the footage and confirmed that Hicks appeared to be stuffing handfuls of Tramadol into her purse or pockets on 10 dates between Sept. 29 and Oct. 26.
Hicks was allegedly seen swallowing some medication on surveillance footage and had allegedly put drugs in her purse or pockets in the morning and later in the afternoon of the same day on at least one day, the affidavit alleges.
Court records indicate that Hicks has entered into a plea agreement on the charge of theft of a controlled substance and that 202nd District Judge John Tidwell has ordered a pre-sentence investigation, a common step when probation is being considered.
Theft of a controlled substance is punishable by two to ten years in prison or by a period of probation up to 10 years. Hicks is scheduled to return to court for a hearing before Judge Tidwell next month.
