[Pharmwaste] Northfield owner arrested

[Jennifer Crittenden]

Owner of Northfield drug disposal service now facing charges

Link: http://www.startribune.com/local/south/45486592.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUgOahccyiUiacyKUnciatkEP7DhUs

The owner of a Northfield company that collects outdated, recalled or excess pharmaceuticals has been indicted in federal court for allegedly diverting prescription drugs for sale on the street.

Mark Andrew Goetz, 40, of Prior Lake, was charged Tuesday with illegally distributing Xanax and OxyContin this year. The transactions, both during sting operations, involved more than 1,600 tablets, the indictment alleges.

Goetz owns Pharmaceutical Returns, a reverse distributor of controlled substances that is authorized by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to collect the drugs and return them to the companies for credit or destroy them at approved
incinerators.

According to the indictment:

In January, members of the Metro Gang Strike Task Force learned that Goetz was redirecting controlled substances to his drug customers just before or shortly after scheduled destructions. Officers set up a sting on Jan. 10 at Goetz's home involving
99 tablets of Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug. A second "controlled purchase" of 1,274 tablets of OxyContin, a painkiller, and 245 tablets of Xanax was conducted by the DEA and the task force on May 6 in a south Minneapolis apartment parking lot.

Goetz was stopped as he was leaving the parking lot; officers seized a small amount of a controlled substance and a laptop computer.



Jennifer Crittenden, M.S.W.
Research Associate
UMaine Center on Aging 
327 Camden Hall 
25 Texas Ave.
Bangor, Maine 04401-4324
Telephone: 207-262-7923
Fax: 207-262-7921
E-mail:Jennifer.Crittenden at umit.maine.edu