Owner of Maryville Pharmacy Pleads Guilty to Federal Drug, Firearms Charges,

MARYVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) - The owner of City Drug Co. in Maryville pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of aggravated theft of pre-retail medical products and one count of possessing firearms and ammunition while unlawfully using a controlled substance.

According to the plea agreement on file with U.S. District Court, since approximately 2002 Randall Scott Jenkins, 55, of Maryville was a licensed pharmacist and co-owner of City Drug Co. In April 2018, surveillance cameras caught him, on two separate occasions, stealing bottles of pre-retail oxycodone from the controlled substance vault of the business. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Jenkins had no prescription for the oxycodone and subsequently admitted to stealing the drugs to satisfy his own personal addiction to the painkillers.

In May 2018, law enforcement agents questioned Jenkins about additional stolen prescription painkillers, including empty prescription bottles. While Jenkins admitted to having a drug addiction problem, he told investigators he did not keep “trophies,” referring to the empty prescription painkiller bottles.

That same day, a bottle containing oxymorphone and a bottle containing oxycodone were found in his home, and a loaded semi-automatic pistol was found in his vehicle. Jenkins had no valid prescription for either drug. Later in May 2018, a federal search warrant executed at his home in Maryville, Tennessee, revealed hydrocodone in an unlabeled pill bottle, oxycodone in two pre-retail pill bottles hidden under clothes in his master bedroom, and 19 firearms and ammunition.

“The U.S. Attorney’s office will continue to use all criminal and civil remedies available under federal law to combat the rapidly growing drug crisis in America,” said U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Overbey. “Prescription opioids, such as oxycodone and oxymorphone, are potent, powerful, addictive and easily abused painkillers which are only available by a prescription issued by a licensed physician for a legitimate medical purpose. Our office will prosecute aggressively individuals in the health care industry, including physicians and pharmacists, who choose to abuse their authority and commit unlawful actions in furtherance of the opioid epidemic in east Tennessee,” added Overby.

Sentencing is set for 10 a.m. on December 13. Jenkins faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, for each of the aggravated drug theft charges. He also faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on the firearms charge. Additionally, he will be subject to supervision by U.S Probation for up to three years upon his release from prison.