State board orders Iowa owner to sell his pharmacies

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy is forcing the owner of several pharmacies to sell or close them partially because he failed to notice that an employee stole 18,000 hydrocodone tablets over two years.

The board ruled that Christopher Tuetken “spread himself entirely too thin” as the owner of 12 pharmacies and could not adequately manage day-to-day requirements.

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“This practice of overextending himself seems to have led directly to the majority of the violations found here,” the board ruled.

At one of Tuetken’s pharmacies, employee Chuck Long stole approximately 18,000 hydrocodone tablets over two years. Long has been charged with prohibited acts involving a controlled substance.

The board ruled that Tuetken’s pharmacy license will be suspended for a year, assessed him a $10,000 fine, and ordered him to divest himself of his pharmacies. He will no longer be able to own or operate a pharmacy in Iowa.

“Well, I understand. I made a few mistakes. Unfortunately I wasn’t meticulous enough and I trusted my employees probably too much. So, unfortunately that got me in trouble,” Tuetken toldKCRG-TV9.

In 2011, Tuetken’s pharmacy license was placed on probation after he was accused of salvaging drugs from a flooded store and selling them in another.