RED LION, York County — A former pharmacy employee has been accused of stealing and selling Xanax pills to two people, according to the York County District Attorney’s Office.
Beth Ann Trout, 47, of Red Lion, is charged with delivery of a controlled substance and conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance, according to a press release from the office of York County District Attorney David W. Sunday Jr.
Trout allegedly sold the pilfered pills to two people: Kody Eugene Jackson, 23, of Red Lion, and Erin Walkins, 21, of York.
Jackson was charged with delivery of a controlled substance, while Walkins was charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal attempt to possess with the intent to deliver a controlled substance.
The charges were made after an investigation by the York County Drug Task Force, Sunday’s office said.
The investigation began in September when authorities learned that Trout, who was employed at the time by Lion Pharmacy in Red Lion, had been selling pharmaceutical drugs from her home, and that the pills she was selling were stolen from the inventory of her employer.
Investigators determined that Jackson was purchasing Xanax pills from Trout. On Oct. 1, Drug Task Force investigators arranged to purchase 100 Xanax pills from Jackson in the Red Lion area. Jackson allegedly accepted cash from an undercover officer posing as a drug buyer. During the transaction, Jackson told the officer he needed to meet with his source to get the pills. Investigators followed Jackson to Trout’s home, where she was observed meeting with him. After the meeting, Jackson returned to the undercover officer and delivered the Xanax pills, investigators say.
Jackson was arrested at his home on Nov. 29. He later told investigators that his source for Xanax pills was Trout, and that he had bought pills from her on previous occasions. He told investigators he sold the pills to other people in the Red Lion area.
Trout was taken into custody at her home on Dec. 4. She allegedly admitted that her duties as a pharmacy technician at Lion Pharmacy included ordering and overseeing the inventory of certain prescription pills, and that she had stolen Xanax from the pharmacy over the last 18 months. She told investigators she sold the pills to two people: Jackson and Walkins, Sunday’s office said.
Walkins was arrested in Springettsbury Township later on Dec. 4, after arriving in a business parking lot with the intent of purchasing Xanax pills from Trout. After her arrest, Walkins allegedly admitted to being involved in prescription pill distribution and that she intended to sell the Xanax pills she was expecting to purchase from Trout.
Walkins had a number of Xanax pills in her possession at the time of her arrest, investigators say.
