A Gwinnett County man is accused of working as a pharmacist, even though he doesn't have a license.
When employees at a DeKalb County CVS realized Jonas O. Mireku had falsified his pharmacist license, they notified police, company spokesman Mike DeAngelis said Thursday.
"We require that all CVS pharmacists be licensed in accordance with state law, and we utilize an electronic license check system to ensure all employees are appropriately licensed, registered or certified by law," DeAngelis said in a statement. "We immediately notified regulators upon our discovery that [Mireku] had falsified his pharmacist license and he was terminated from his job at CVS pharmacy."
Two pharmacy technicians at the CVS, in the 7000 block of Covington Highway near Lithonia, identified Mireku as the pharmacist on duty, according to the arrest warrant obtained by the AJC.
Mireku, 49, of Snellville, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the DeKalb County jail, where he remained Thursday. He faces a felony charge of practicing pharmacy without a license.
Police in Newton County are also investigating whether Mireku worked as a pharmacist in that county, Lt. Mark Mitchell with the Newton County Sheriff's Office said Thursday afternoon.
Mireku does not hold a professional license of any kind in Georgia, according to secretary of state's office. Records show Mireku previously held a pharmacy technician license in Connecticut, but it expired in 2004.
Rick Allen, director of the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency, told the AJC that Mireku studied pharmacy in Ghana, his native country. But in the U.S., he has never held a license.
Mireku worked as a "floater," meaning he worked shifts in various pharmacies, Allen said. The case is still under investigation, he said.
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