Target Worker Accused Of Stealing More Than 10,000 Pain Killers

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by Kirk Hawkins
Bio | Email | Follow: @kirkhawkins by Photographer Marvin Beach

Story Created: Feb 16, 2013 at 10:52 PM EDT

Story Updated: Feb 16, 2013 at 11:27 PM EDT

CHARLOTTE, NC--31 year old Jennifer Brandon is now behind bars, facing drug theft and drug trafficking charges. Charlotte Mecklenburg Police arrested her on February 7th. Police say she stole more than 10,500 hydrocodone pills beginning last October while working in the pharmacy at this Super Target in Southwest Charlotte.

It's the second major prescription drug theft so far this year. 80,000 dollars worth of hydrocodone and oxycodone were taken from a pharmacy in Gastonia two weeks ago. The C.D.C. says prescription drug abuse is an epidemic. The fastest growing drug problem in the U.S. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper says a thousand people die in the state every year from prescription drug abuse. That's higher than the national average. "It doesn't matter if rich or poor. It doesn't matter about race or ethnicity. This is affecting all ages, all population groups in North Carolina," said Project Lazarus President and CEO Fred Wells Brason II.

Brason's Project Lazarus is working with North Carolina state lawmakers to strengthen good samaritan 911 laws and increase access to drugs that reverse overdose. "This sort of blindsided America. Obviously it's an uphill battle," Brason said.

Target has not yet returned our calls for comment. Brandon is scheduled to appear before a Mecklenburg County Judge on Friday morning.

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