Pharmacy Tech Charged With Opioid Pill Theft

A pharmacy technician who allegedly took thousands of opioid prescription pills from her employer was charged January 2021 by Greeneville police with prescription drug fraud.

Noel K. Houseman, 22, of 954 Meadowbrook Road, Afton, worked at the Walgreen’s Pharmacy at 1650 E. Andrew Johnson Highway. From January 2020 until January 2021, Houseman diverted approximately 6,271 tablets of hydrocodone-acetaminophen 10-325mg, and 929 tablets of alprazolam.

Police were called Saturday morning by a Walgreen’s manager about “a pharmacy technician (who) was caught stealing prescription drugs from the business,” Officer Robert Anderson said in a report.

Houseman was at Walgreen’s when officers arrived. The manger told police that that pharmacy chain’s corporate office notified their location because of a discrepancy in the amount of pills they had in stock. The manager told police that cameras in the business were rearranged and on Jan. 19, Houseman “was seen moving through the pharmacy to a location she believed to be out of view from the camera and then placed a large quantity of pills into a change purse.”

The pills Houseman allegedly took were on a table when officers arrived. Laid out were 107 hydrocodone and 74 Alprazolam pills.

Houseman surrendered her registration to practice as a pharmacy technician in Tennessee, and was taken to the Greene County Detention Center where she was held on bond pending a first court appearance.