SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A prominent pharmacist on the State Board of Health was accused in an indictment unsealed Tuesday of knowingly selling drugs used to make methamphetamine, prompting the governor to call for his resignation.
Haskell Lee Evans Jr., 68, was named in four felony counts of recklessly selling meth precursors and three misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to report information to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. The indictments, handed down by a multicounty grand jury last week, were unsealed in Comanche County District Court.
Evans, a registered pharmacist in Lawton for more than 44 years, owns Haskell's Prescription Shop. According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health's Web site, Evans previously served as president of the board and also as president, vice president and secretary of the Oklahoma Pharmaceutical Association.
Gov. Brad Henry, who appointed Evans to the board, called on him to resign from the body, which oversees the state's health department.
"Like anyone, he is innocent until proven guilty, but it would not be appropriate for him to conduct state business at the same time he is fighting this kind of criminal charge," Henry said in a statement.
Evans appeared in court and was booked into the Comanche County jail before being released on $5,000 bond, according to his attorney, Mack Martin. Martin said his client did nothing wrong and is confident he will be exonerated, but said they have not discuss whether Evans would resign.
"Our general response is that my client hasn't done anything wrong and denies any inappropriate conduct on his part," Martin said.
According to the indictment, Evans sold the drugs "with full knowledge that 60 to 70 percent of pseudoephedrine sales were diverted to the manufacture of methamphetamine."
Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient used to make the illegal stimulant and is found in many over-the-counter cold medicines. Sales of products containing pseudoephedrine are limited under a state law intended to hinder the manufacture of methamphetamine.
The investigation by state drug agents revealed Evans marked up his pseudoephedrine products more than 600 percent above the standard retail sales price, yet his business remained the state's top pharmacy for sales of the drug, according to Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Edmondson's office administers the multicounty grand jury, which is scheduled to reconvene Aug. 17.
The indictment cites one instance in which Evans sold the drug to as many as five customers who arrived in a single vehicle, entered the pharmacy in a group and ordered the identical pseudoephedrine product. In another instance, Evans sold the drug to an individual who just days earlier had been identified by narcotics officer as a known meth manufacturer, according to the indictment.
Evans faces up to 10 years in prison on each felony count. The three misdemeanor charges allege Evans failed to transmit required information to the Bureau of Narcotics after filling prescriptions for schedule IV narcotics.