Charged pharmacist weeps at hearing

A St. John's pharmacist who is accused of trafficking the drugs she used to handle at a downtown drugstore wept openly during a brief court proceeding Thursday.

Ann Marie Burke, 54, was taken into custody Tuesday on charges of drug possession and trafficking, following a year-long police investigation.

When her case was called in provincial court Thursday, Burke cried uncontrollably in the dock. The court remanded her to custody again, pending a bail hearing scheduled for Jan. 26.

Burke, who faces six charges related to the possession or trafficking of controlled substances that include the painkillers OxyContin and Percocet, worked at Downtown Pharmacy on Water Street, and had been involved in dispensing methadone to narcotics addicts.

Burke was taken into custody with Christopher Hollett, 31, after the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary raided her LeMarchant Road condominium.

Burke had worn a dressing gown during her first court appearance on Tuesday. Police said she refused multiple offers to change her clothes. On Thursday, however, she was dressed in normal attire.

Suspects connected

Meanwhile, CBC News has been told by multiple sources that there is a connection between Burke and another recent high-profile arrest in St. John's.

Sources say Burke has a personal connection to Dawn Marie Power, 30, one of two people charged with aggravated assault following a Jan. 8 robbery at a pharmacy in the west end of St. John's. Security video released by police shows clerks at the Burgeo Street pharmacy being doused with gasoline and then threatened with a lighter.

It's not yet clear how Burke and Power know each other.

After a court appearance last week, a legal aid lawyer representing Power said she would likely plead guilty in the case.

Meanwhile, the Burke case in which police seized 1,247 prescription pills, as well as cash and marijuana has a put a new focus on the monitoring of pharmacists.

Checks and balances

The Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board says there is not much more that it can do to check for abuse in the system, above the two representatives who visit the province's more than 200 pharmacies to ensure that standards are being met and appropriate records are being kept.

Registrar Don Rowe said oversight of the profession is a far cry from the era when Health Canada monitored narcotics in the province.

"They discontinued having an inspector here, so that doesn't happen anymore," Rowe told CBC News.

"At one point, pharmacists regularly every two months had to send off records [and] documentation to Health Canada in Ottawa, listing both their purchases of narcotics and the sale of certain narcotics. That doesn't happen anymore," he said.

"Some of the checks and balances that were there have been discontinued."

The board, which supervises about 600 pharmacists, suspended Burke's licence on Tuesday pending a disciplinary review, although Rowe said the complaint that triggered the action is unrelated to the criminal charges brought against Burke the very same day.