Former Pharmacy Technician from Carlsbad Sentenced for Misdemeanor Crime for Unlawful Possession of Oxycodone

ALBUQUERQUE – Amber Kay Otero, 31, of Carlsbad, N.M., was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to two years of probation for her conviction on a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully possessing a controlled substance. Otero also was ordered to perform 80 hours of community service and to pay a $1,000.00 fine.

Otero was arrested on Sept. 23, 2016, following an investigation initiated after the DEA received a report of theft or loss of controlled substances from the Southwest Pharmacy located at 2402 West Pierce Street in Carlsbad. According to the criminal complaint, Otero was employed as a pharmacy technician at Southwest Pharmacy and allegedly stole approximately 20,344 oxycodone tablets of various strengths.

On Dec. 20, 2016, Otero pled guilty to a misdemeanor information charging her with unlawful possession of a controlled substance. In entering the guilty plea, Otero admitted that from May 2012 through April 2015, she was employed as a pharmacy technician at the Southwest Pharmacy in Eddy County, N.M. She further admitted that on Jan. 15, 2015, she intentionally took oxycodone pills from a bottle at Southwest Pharmacy for her own consumption.

This case was investigated by the DEA’s Tactical Diversion Squad in El Paso, Texas, and the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force.

DEA’s Tactical Diversion Squads combine DEA resources with those of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in an innovative effort to investigate, disrupt and dismantle those suspected of violating the Controlled Substances Act or other appropriate federal, state or local statutes pertaining to the diversion of licit pharmaceutical controlled substances or listed chemicals.

The Pecos Valley Drug Task Force is comprised of officers from the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office, Carlsbad Police Department and Artesia Police Department and is part of the HIDTA Region VI Drug Task Force. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. HIDTA is a program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States and seeks to reduce drug trafficking and production by facilitating coordinated law enforcement activities and information sharing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Beck of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office prosecuted the case as part of the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative. The HOPE Initiative was launched in January 2015 by the UNM Health Sciences Center and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in response to the national opioid epidemic, which has had a disproportionately devastating impact on New Mexico. Opioid addiction has taken a toll on public safety, public health and the economic viability of our communities. Working in partnership with the DEA, the Bernalillo County Opioid Accountability Initiative, Healing Addiction in our Community (HAC), the Albuquerque Public Schools and other community stakeholders, HOPE’s principal goals are to protect our communities from the dangers associated with heroin and opioid painkillers and reducing the number of opioid-related deaths in New Mexico.

The HOPE Initiative is comprised of five components: (1) prevention and education; (2) treatment; (3) law enforcement; (4) reentry; and (5) strategic planning. HOPE’s law enforcement component is led by the Organized Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DEA in conjunction with their federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners. Targeting members of major heroin and opioid trafficking organizations for investigation and prosecution is a priority of the HOPE Initiative. Learn more about the New Mexico HOPE Initiative at http://www.HopeInitiativeNM.org.