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Xavier Harris -
King's Pharmacy
A pharmaceutical sting operation at King’s Pharmacy last November nabbed what the business owner says is the latest in a history of Houston-based fraud efforts; a Jefferson County grand jury indicted the 21-year-old accused actor March 2.
According to a probable cause affidavit noting the alleged crime of Malcolm, aka “Malcom,” Xavier Harris, a Richmond resident, a pharmacy employee contacted the Beaumont Police Department (BPD) on Nov. 29, 2021, in reference to a man “telephonically communicating a fraudulent prescription of promethazine-codeine for a Malcom Harris.”
When questioned about the process of and difficulty in identifying fraudulent prescriptions, King’s Pharmacy owner and head pharmacist Dr. Greg Hamby told The Examiner, “It’s pretty easy.”
“Now, do some get past us? Possibly. But with some of the new strategies or regulations that are in place for prescribers, I think it’s more difficult for individuals to pass that off,” he explained. “It was possibly more easily done in the past when some of the newer regulations or expectations weren’t in place.”
According to the charging document detailing Harris’ crime, he entered the front of the business and made contact with an employee, presenting a driver’s license and identifying himself as Harris. Little did Harris know, the pharmacy had coordinated a sting with BPD to arrest the man for attempting to fraudulently obtain a prescription between Harris’ initial call and his arrival. As the transaction was being completed, the affidavit reads, narcotics officers “made contact with Harris and placed him into custody.”
Officers found a black Ruger 57 on Harris’ person, and the man admitted to officers he was unlicensed to carry said firearm. Police arrested him after dispatch advised Harris had outstanding Jefferson County warrants.
During an interview with police, Harris told detectives he arrived at King’s Pharmacy to purchase a prescription he “knew was fraudulent.”
“Harris stated his intent was to obtain the prescription and sell the prescription to another person for an undetermined amount of U.S. currency,” detectives wrote in their report.
Cough syrup craze
According to a report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), some over-the-counter and prescription cough and cold medicines contain active ingredients that are psychoactive (mind-altering) at higher-than-recommended dosages and are frequently abused for this purpose.
“These products may also contain other drugs, such as expectorants and antihistamines, which are dangerous at high doses and compound the dangers of abuse,” the report reads. “Promethazine-codeine cough syrup, a medication that contains codeine, an opioid that acts as a cough suppressant and can also produce relaxation and euphoria when consumed at a higher-than-prescribed dose. It also contains promethazine HCl, an antihistamine that additionally acts as a sedative.”
Drinking promethazine-codeine cough syrup mixed with soda (a combination called syrup, sizzurp, purple drank, barre or lean) was referenced frequently in some popular music beginning in the late 1990s, the report details, and has become increasingly popular among young people in several areas of the country. A variation of “purple drank” is promethazine-codeine cough syrup mixed with alcohol.
When taken in higher quantities or when such symptoms aren’t present, according to NIDA findings, the drug combo may affect the brain in ways very similar to illegal drugs.
“When taken in high doses, (cough medicine) acts on the same cell receptors as dissociative hallucinogenic drugs like PCP or ketamine,” the report states. “Users describe effects ranging from mild stimulation to alcohol- or marijuana-like intoxication, and at high doses, sensations of physical distortion and hallucinations.
“Codeine attaches to the same cell receptors targeted by illegal opioids like heroin. Consuming more than the daily recommended therapeutic dose of promethazine-codeine cough syrup can produce euphoria similar to that produced by other opioid drugs; people addicted to codeine may consume several times the recommended, safe amount. Also, both codeine and promethazine HCl act as depressants of the central nervous system, producing sedating or calming effects.”
Houstonians haunting local pharmacies
Harris, a Fort Bend County resident, is the latest in what Hamby called a history of Houston-area criminals attempting to prey on Beaumont pharmacies.
“As often happens with these rings that come out of Houston, which is usually where our (fraudsters) come from, they come to town in a vehicle or multiple vehicles and divide it up in the parking lot,” Hamby revealed while explaining that King’s Pharmacy has assisted BPD in multiple sting operations. “All the ones we’ve done stings on before are very similar. They’re from somewhere like Baytown, north Houston or east Houston, somewhere over there.
“All of it’s on camera, and they’re just really bold with their activity.”
When reasoning why Houston-based criminals would target his Beaumont pharmacy, Hamby offered, “In my head, I have it as, that there is less sophistication when you travel outside their area. They are getting away from an area that might already be heavily trafficked, or set upon by the organizations from Houston, or where they’re known, or their face is known, or that activity is well-known and there are constraints in place by stores over there.
“So they go somewhere else thinking, ‘I can get away with it there.’ I guess it’s the stereotype of rural America being less sophisticated than the city.”
Wary of giving too much information to individuals who might take advantage of it, Hamby explained that new prescriber regulations have cracked down on the number of successful pharmacy fraudsters.
“Prescribers now have certain constraints as far as how they can transmit prescriptions,” he explained, “and whenever those aren’t met, then immediately a flag goes up.”
Harris was arrested Nov. 29, 2021, according to the affidavit, and admitted to the crime alleged. As of press time, Harris was not in the custody of the local jail, but, according to jail staff, there’s currently an active warrant for Harris’ arrest.