DAPHNE, Ala.—A Fairhope woman Thursday-facing 65 counts of second-degree property theft, according to a Baldwin County Sheriff's Office spokesperson-turned herself in for allegedly stealing more than 5,300 prescription pills from her work place. She was released on $30,000 bail. 

Rebecca Ann Beaty, 34, was a PharMerica prescription entry tech during a seven-month period this year when pills gradually were stolen from the Daphne pharmaceutical company, according to a sheriff's office news release. It said that four similar thefts occurred in 2007.  

The Lortab-brand hydrocodone pills were stolen from the 9052 Independence Ave. location, according to Maj. Anthony Lowery, who said the pharmacy learned of the thefts after discovering a discrepancy between prescriptions Beaty filed and a bogus recipient.

A nursing home's billing office addressed the problem to PharMerica's general manager, who said Beaty filled the prescription on Sept. 18, according to the news release. The relevation came when the two entities discovered the prescription in question was filled for a patient who'd been released from the nursing home since June.

“Apparently she (Beaty) forgot to take one of the clients right out of the database; she made an error in accounting and the nursing home got billed …”  Lowery said. “That's why it was found.”

The general manager-having asked Beaty to produce documentation of the nursing home's prescription request-launched an internal audit of all prescriptions Beaty filled, after learning she couldn't provide the information, according to the release. 

“The general manager discovered that Rebecca reactivated several patients, filled a prescription for varying amount of Lortab/Hydrocodone 10/500 and after the medications were pulled by the pharmacist, the prescription was cancelled,” Lowery said in a statement.  

A timeline of succeeding events, according to the sheriff's office, is as follows:

oSept. 24: PharMerica's general manager contacts the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy. “Investigator Glenn Wells from the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy met with the general manager and she provided him with the paper documents related to the transactions. … Wells then contacted Rebecca Beaty at her home and Rebecca confessed to stealing the medication. 

“Rebecca estimated that she stole around 2500 Lortab/Hydrocodone 10/500 pills,” the news release said.

oSept. 25: A report is taken by the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office. “Investigators examined the paperwork and noted 69 different transactions completed by Rebecca for Lortab/Hydrocodone that were filled and then cancelled. 

“The general manager verified they were all filled on patients that were discharged and then reactivated by Rebecca.”

Such thefts this year occurred between Feb. 21 and Sept. 18, according to a sheriff's office spokesperson, who said four thefts occurred between July 30, 2007 and Jan. 3. A total of 5,325 Lortab pills were stolen.

Hydrocodone is a habit-forming compound derived from codeine; it's usually used with other drugs as an analgesic or cough sedative, according to Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary. Lortab is a brand name of the same compound, with acetaminophen.

Around 60 pills a day were stolen, with the exception of Sept. 18, when 240 pills were stolen, authorities said.

“Sixty five Theft of Property 2nd warrants were signed on 10/14/08 for Rebecca Beaty and these cases will be presented to a grand jury,” Lowery said.

Beaty-who Thursday was jailed at the Baldwin County Corrections Center-was released on $30,000 bail, a sheriff's office spokesperson said.

Daphne Bulletin Staff Writer Sasha Heller contributed to this report.