A FORMER pharmacist in the US is facing up to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to tampering with an injectable medication.
Bryan Lewis, 34, confessed to using an opioid analgesic, hydromorphone, after a colleague Home Choice Partners in Roanoke, Virginia, discovered a needle, alcohol pad and bloody tissue in a staff bathroom, which prompted an investigation.
Local media outlet, WSLS, reported that the employee who found the items told another colleague before contacting the state Department of Human Services, after which a decision was made to drug test all staff.
Prosecutors said Lewis had initially been due to take a day off on the day of the drug test, but was ordered to attend.
When queried about the items found in the staff rest room, Lewis said they may have fallen out of his pocket.
Lewis then told an employee that he was responsible for the equipment discovered in the bathroom, telling his colleague that he had been using hydromorphone taken from the pharmacy for nine months.
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