Pubdate: Tue, 22 Feb 2005
Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal (SC)
Copyright: 2005 The Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Contact:  http://www.goupstate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/977
Author: Janet S. Spencer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

UPS FIRES 7 CHARGED WITH STEALING LORTAB FROM SHIPMENTS

Seven UPS workers, including two men accused of selling prescription
narcotics that were being shipped to a Spartanburg wholesaler, have
been fired.

Dan McMackin, UPS spokesman in Atlanta, said Monday an investigation
was continuing but would not say whether additional arrests or firings
were expected.

"So far, it's been shipments of only Lortabs that have been affected,"
he said. "And that's all of the firings as of today."

McMackin would not give details of the other five employees'
involvement or the arrest last week of James Kendrick Blackwood, 26,
and Jonathan Tyler Kirby, 27.

Blackwood and Kirby were charged with possession with intent to
distribute Lortab and have been released from the Spartanburg County
jail.

Kirby was a manager at the facility on Howard Street, where Blackwood
loaded trucks.

Blackwood also was charged with the theft of about 2,000 pills that
were being sent to Smith Drug Co. in Spartanburg that distributes
prescription medicines to nine states.

Ken Couch, president of Smith Drug Co., said the investigation began
after a production control team found a package that arrived had been
opened.

"This was reported to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, to
UPS and to the manufacturer," he said. "We did not receive all of the
shipment. That's a big red flag."

Couch said his company, which has been in business for 60 years, had
not had problems with shipments in about 10 years.

"It comes up every so often. People think they are smarter than the
procedures we have in place, the police and the system. And they
aren't," he said.

He said the drug control division with the state Department of Health
and Environmental Control is also a part of the system that protects
the manufacturing and distribution of drugs.

"The DEA was notified because the shipment came from out of state.
When a problem is detected, our product control team reacts within
minutes. You hate to think of these products being sold on the
street," he said.

Security officers with UPS conducted an investigation and notified the
Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office after Blackwood confessed that he
began stealing the painkillers in December.

Maj. Dan Johnson said his investigators do not anticipate additional
charges.

Blackwood said he needed the money because his girlfriend was
pregnant. He made a deal with Kirby, who knew he was stealing and
selling the pills, according to a report by sheriff's
investigators.

Kirby told investigators that he sold the Lortabs to co-workers at UPS
as well as at Spartanburg Steel, where he also worked.

Some of the pills were recovered from inside Blackwood's residence and
from a golf bag in the trunk of the 1995 Lexus that he drives.

The men sold the pills for $4 to $5 each.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin