Theft of drugs from Iowa hospital triggers criminal charges, licensing board sanctions

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy has sanctioned a hospital pharmacy for failing to adequately monitor its supply of controlled substances.

The board recently charged MercyOne Dubuque West’s pharmacy with failing to ensure controlled-substance accountability and with failing to verify that its actual, physical inventorу of drugs matched the expected inventory.

According to the board, it was discovered in December 2025 that a pharmacy technician, Diane Marie Richman, had stolen a number of tablets of phentermine, a Schedule IV controlled substance and stimulant.

Later, the board alleges, additional discrepancies were discovered involving the same drug. In all, 330 tablets were believed to have been stolen between August 2023 and January 2026, when Richman was fired.

The board attributed the pharmacy’s failure to uncover the discrepancies sooner to a lack of routine audits. The audits that were conducted, the board said, failed to uncover the thefts because Richman “manually adjusted” the inventory so that the actual count matched the expected inventory.

To resolve the disciplinary charges, the pharmacy agreed to accept a warning from the board.

At the same time, the board charged Richman with obtaining or diverting prescription drugs without lawful authority either for personal use or for distribution. According to the board, video of an incident on Aug. 20, 2025, shows Richman placing phentermine pills into a bottle and then placing the bottle into a box she later took from the pharmacy.

To resolve the disciplinary charges, Richman recently agreed to surrender her license. She is currently facing criminal charges of unlawfully obtaining a prescription drug and tampering with records, both of which are aggravated misdemeanors.

A plea hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 5, 2026.