A former hospital pharmacy technician pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that he stole anti-malaria tablets that had been touted by President Donald Trump as a potential treatment for coronavirus.
Christopher Mencias Agustin, 35, of Torrance, is accused of entering his workplace at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on two separate occasions to steal prescription drugs, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
More than 700 tablets of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin — valued at about $6,700 — were allegedly taken, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Agustin is charged with two felony counts of burglary during an emergency and one felony count of concealing or withholding stolen property exceeding $950, and could face up to four years and four months in jail if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The criminal complaint alleges that the burglaries occurred March 22 and March 24, and that the stolen property was concealed or withheld between March 31 and April 9.
Agustin was initially arrested March 31 by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and released the next day on his own recognizance, then was re-arrested Tuesday, jail records show.
At the court hearing, he was again ordered to be released on his own recognizance and to remain in Los Angeles County, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Agustin is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom May 5.
A study released Tuesday on the use of hydroxychloroquine on patients in Veterans Health Administration facilities found there was “an association of increased overall mortality was identified in patients treated with hydroxychloroquine alone” and “no evidence that use of hydroxychloroquine, either with or without azithromycin, reduced the risk of mechanical ventilation in patients hospitalized with Covid-19.”
The National Institutes of Health has cited “insufficient clinical data to recommend either for or against using chloroquine or hydoxychloroquine” to treat coronavirus, and urged doctors to monitor patients for adverse effects if they are used, while recommending against the combination of hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin “because of the potential for toxicities.”
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