PTI rejection affirmed for drug-selling ex-CVS worker

PRESS RELEASE
November 2 , 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact: Bernie Weisenfeld- PIO

A former CVS pharmacy employee who was arrested on charges of stealing and selling prescription medicines today lost an appeal of her rejection from the Gloucester County pretrial intervention program, which could have resulted in eventual dismissal of her charges.

A state appeals court found that there was no abuse of discretion on the part of the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office in opposing the admission of Elizabeth A. Powell to the PTI program in 2008. Powell (DOB 11/21/79), of Vineland,, who worked as a pharmacy technician in a Franklin Township, Gloucester County NJ pharmacy, subsequently pleaded guilty to third-degree drug distribution and was sentenced to two years on probation. CVS managers discovered the theft.

The GCPO contended Powell was ineligible for PTI because, even though her drug-selling in her Vineland hometown lasted only four months, it ended only because of her arrest; she was not motivated by an addiction and she did not fully cooperate with police, refusing to disclose the buyers of pills she sold. She sold mostly Vicodin, Powell told police. Senior Assistant County Prosecutor Paul Colangelo said Powell profited “to the tune of almost $8,000.” in what he called a “pattern of antisocial behavior.”

Colangelo “felt a diversion ( into PTI) would send the wrong message” about how such offenses are handled, Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Enos wrote in a brief
opposing Powell’s appeal. PTI allows defendants who meet certain conditions, such as performing community service, to have their charges dismissed.

Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton said the decision “recognizes that drug dealers come from all walks of life, but have the common denominator of financial profit and disregard for the lives they destroy in the process.”