Veterinary technician charged with stealing animal painkillers

Updated: March 12, 2008 - 1:00 AM

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Charges are pending against a 25-year-old Maple Grove veterinary technician suspected of stealing pain medications intended for animals from her employer's office in Columbia Heights and submitting forged prescriptions for painkillers to a New Hope pharmacy.

According to a search warrant filed Monday in Hennepin County District Court, Dr. Jean DeJong of All Pets Animal Hospital in Columbia Heights reported to police last month that three bottles of prescription painkillers had been stolen.

Among the painkillers stolen were butorphanol and Dorolex, frequently used as painkillers for horses, and hydrocodone, often used to suppress coughing in dogs. The drugs also have human applications.

On March 1, a pharmacist with CVS Pharmacy in New Hope reported that a woman tried to redeem a prescription for 80 tablets of morphine sulfate from the same animal hospital. The prescription, written for a dog, aroused suspicions because of the amount, and the woman fled.

Police traced a license plate to the home of the woman, who was hired in January by the animal hospital, court documents said.

ABBY SIMONS