Amber Kay Otero, Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance, New Mexico 2016

ALBUQUERQUE — A former pharmacy technician from Carlsbad has been sentenced for her role in stealing thousands of oxycodone tablets from a local pharmacy.

Amber Kay Otero, 31, was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to perform 80 hours of community service and pay a $1,000 fine for her conviction on a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully possessing a controlled substance.

Otero, who worked as a pharmacy technician at the Southwest Pharmacy in Carlsbad, was arrested in September 2016 after an investigation into the theft of controlled substances from the pharmacy.

According to court documents, Otero stole approximately 20,344 oxycodone tablets of various strengths from the pharmacy between May 2012 and April 2015. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor information charging her with unlawful possession of a controlled substance in December 2016.

Otero admitted to taking oxycodone pills from a bottle at the pharmacy for her own consumption on January 15, 2015.

The case was investigated by the DEA’s Tactical Diversion Squad in El Paso, Texas, and the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force, which is comprised of officers from the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office, Carlsbad Police Department, and Artesia Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Beck prosecuted the case as part of the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative, which aims to reduce opioid-related deaths in New Mexico through a combination of prevention, education, treatment, law enforcement, and reentry programs.

The HOPE Initiative is a partnership between the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the DEA, the Bernalillo County Opioid Accountability Initiative, Healing Addiction in our Community (HAC), the Albuquerque Public Schools, and other community stakeholders.

Otero’s sentence is a result of her conviction on a misdemeanor charge, rather than a felony charge, which could have carried a longer sentence.

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