By Charles Lefebvre

Pharmacists plead guilty on first day of trial

Apr 23, 2018 | 1:19 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A pair of local pharmacists have entered guilty pleas on the first day of their trial on Monday.

Evan King and Kathy Kieser each pleaded guilty to one count of taking a secret commission in Medicine Hat provincial court Monday morning. A five-day trial was scheduled to run this week.

The two each received an 18 month conditional sentence, and have been ordered to pay restitution to South Country Co-op.

King has been ordered to pay $43,995.13, while Kieser has been ordered to pay $174, 670.35.

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King and Keiser, along with Robert Stadnyk, were charged by the Medicine Hat Police Service in 2017. According to a news release at the time the charges were laid, the three negotiated purchases and incentives from drug companies on behalf of Medicine Hat Co-op (now South Country Co-op)/

The incentives, in the form of gift cards, travel vouchers and entertainment tickets, were kept by the pharmacists.

Police say the total amount of the fraud was $1.6 million.

King, Kieser and Stadnyk were all subject to a disciplinary hearing from the Alberta College of Pharmacists in 2016. All three were fined $5,000, had their pharmacist licenses temporarily suspended, and must disclose the decision from the hearing to future employers for the next three years.

Stadnyk pleaded guilty last month to a charge of taking a secret commission. He received a conditional sentence of two years less a day, and has been ordered to  pay $734,357.85 in restitution.