Fugitive convicted killer works as CVS pharmacist in Michigan for decades

[watchfulwaiting1957]

Convicted Pittsburgh murderer who escaped in 1971 captured in Michigan

A convicted killer who escaped from two sheriff's deputies during his grandmother's funeral in Homewood in 1971 is finally in custody again after nearly...

www.post-gazette.com

"Moses was living in suburban Flint, Mich., under the name Paul Dickson and working as a traveling pharmacist licensed in Michigan since at least 1999, the FBI and Allegheny County Sheriff's Office said at a news conference Friday. Authorities said Moses' capture stemmed from his arrest in January in Michigan on an embezzlement charge brought by police in Saint Clair Shores after officers said video showed him stealing hydrocodone pills from a CVS pharmacy where he was working in December."

I don't understand how something like this could be possible at CVS. I mean did the guy like steal a deceased man's identity and pharmacist license? The article says he was living under a fake name "Paul Dickson".

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[confettiflyer]

I guess I would rather have a fugitive pharmacist over a technician just pretending to be a pharmacist, all other things being equal.

 

[mentos]

Convicted Pittsburgh murderer who escaped in 1971 captured in Michigan

A convicted killer who escaped from two sheriff's deputies during his grandmother's funeral in Homewood in 1971 is finally in custody again after nearly...

www.post-gazette.com

"Moses was living in suburban Flint, Mich., under the name Paul Dickson and working as a traveling pharmacist licensed in Michigan since at least 1999, the FBI and Allegheny County Sheriff's Office said at a news conference Friday. Authorities said Moses' capture stemmed from his arrest in January in Michigan on an embezzlement charge brought by police in Saint Clair Shores after officers said video showed him stealing hydrocodone pills from a CVS pharmacy where he was working in December."

I don't understand how something like this could be possible at CVS. I mean did the guy like steal a deceased man's identity and pharmacist license? The article says he was living under a fake name "Paul Dickson".

Sounds like he started a new life under the fake name and then became a pharmacist.

 

[Sine Cura]

Dis is what happens when you have no standards for floating pharmacists. This guy got caught only because of obvious diversion

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I'm just impressed by his ability to evade the authorities. Bravo. Too bad he got hooked on opiates and couldn't control himself or he would have gotten away with it to the grave.

 

[projektreverb]

Dis is what happens when you have no standards for floating pharmacists. This guy got caught only because of obvious diversion

Yup. I often am very suspicious when I hear complaints about floaters. Like how bad do you have to be that the one day you’re filling in went bad? You literally had to do the bare minimum…

 

[watchfulwaiting1957]

Sounds like he started a new life under the fake name and then became a pharmacist.

Wow. So you think he like actually went to school and earned the pharmacist degree? or you think he stole someone's identity that was a pharmacist? I'm sure some friends we might have in Michigan may know more as I can only find limited information online on this event

 

[APN-59 rph]

Yup. I often am very suspicious when I hear complaints about floaters. Like how bad do you have to be that the one day you’re filling in went bad? You literally had to do the bare minimum…

So..you spend all day flogging pills at "the minimum " Now...Instead of the high speed flogging most of us do.. you counted, poured, licked and sticked slowly..so slowly..but took at lot of time counseling and evaluating profiles...questioning prescribers etc.. who is the more professional pharmacist? The regular crew or the floater? Does it matter medically that you are a murder suspect? Getting caught stealing narcs is Karma doing it's thing..Be interesting to join the charging session with this one...and the made for TV movie eval session...

 

[mentos]

Dis is what happens when you have no standards for floating pharmacists. This guy got caught only because of obvious diversion

Maybe he was a decent pharmacist before stealing.

Wow. So you think he like actually went to school and earned the pharmacist degree? or you think he stole someone's identity that was a pharmacist? I'm sure some friends we might have in Michigan may know more as I can only find limited information online on this event

Yes. He was a teenager when he committed the murder. Could have easily gone to college later on. If he stole someone's identity then the article would have mentioned it, just like the tech who stole someone's license at Walgreens.

 

[BidingMyTime]

I am curious also, did he actually get licensed as a pharmacist, or was this part of his fraud as well?

And seriously, the "I threw the pills out the window" story, was that something a customer told him, and he thought the loss prevention guy would be stupid enough to believe it?

 

[knight on horse]

Michigan is a ****hole, as we learned last year if we didn't know already

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Michigan is a ****hole, as we learned last year if we didn't know already

I'd rather live there than most rural states. Like Wyoming. Or North Dakota.

 

[watchfulwaiting1957]

I'd rather live there than most rural states. Like Wyoming. Or North Dakota.

The grass is green where you water it.

 

[ValeRx]

Still better than most new grads.

 

[Sine Cura]

If the BOP knew about the false identity and previous conviction (not like he was caught making counterfeit T-shirts), he prob wouldn't have gotten a license.

Just sayin'

 

[mentos]

The grass is green where you water it.

Not if the water comes from Flint.

 

[watchfulwaiting1957]

If the BOP knew about the false identity and previous conviction (not like he was caught making counterfeit T-shirts), he prob wouldn't have gotten a license.

Just sayin'

Well, if he just made up an identify and didn't steal one how would he have gotten a social security number and birth certificate? Unless he bribed someone at the government or something. Not sure, it's just not adding up for me how this could have happened without serious negligence

 

[mentos]

Well, if he just made up an identify and didn't steal one how would he have gotten a social security number and birth certificate? Unless he bribed someone at the government or something. Not sure, it's just not adding up for me how this could have happened without serious negligence

C&G Newspapers

"According to the Pittsburgh FBI, at some point since then, Moses assumed the identity of Dickson."

From dictionary.com:

"When something is described as assumed, it's fake. An assumed name is made up, often to hide a true identity. If you're living under an assumed name, you've taken on a new, fictitious name to disguise yourself or simply to start over as a new person — to give yourself an assumed identity."

So he must have gotten accepted to college without a real SSN or birth certificate. Were those required pre 9/11?

 

[BidingMyTime]

So he must have gotten accepted to college without a real SSN or birth certificate. Were those required pre 9/11?

Good question. Even if they were, there was no easy way to verify them prior to recent times. It wouldn't have been that hard to buy a realistic looking fake one, employers/schools would just ask to see it, and that was that. It wasn't wasn't like there was a computerized database they could look them up in.

 

[mentos]

Good question. Even if they were, there was no easy way to verify them prior to recent times. It wouldn't have been that hard to buy a realistic looking fake one, employers/schools would just ask to see it, and that was that. It wasn't wasn't like there was a computerized database they could look them up in.

Oh yeah, no internet too. Fake IDs used to be easy to get for teenagers to buy alcohol and stuff right? I think the 9/11 plane hijackers had real drivers licenses too so it couldn't have been that hard. Times were different back then.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Oh yeah, no internet too. Fake IDs used to be easy to get for teenagers to buy alcohol and stuff right? I think the 9/11 plane hijackers had real drivers licenses too so it couldn't have been that hard. Times were different back then.

The world before the internet was pretty nice. You could just make bull**** up and nobody could fact check you. lol.

 

[mentos]

The world before the internet was pretty nice. You could just make bull**** up and nobody could fact check you. lol.

Doesn't that happen now?

 

[projektreverb]

The world before the internet was pretty nice. You could just make bull**** up and nobody could fact check you. lol.

Pretty sure people still do that, even with the interne.

 

[TranslationalRPh]

Pretty sure people still do that, even with the interne.

Sadly, yes. I ran a background check on an applicant last year. Came back clean. I was wondering why she and her grandfather were so surprised and indicated that she had turned her life around. Anyway, I was sold on her redemptive arc and didn't investigate any further. By far, she was the worst tenant I ever had by several orders of magnitude. I say this even though she was early with her rent. Just an absolute nightmare. Had I done a quick Google search, I would have seen what was missing from her background search. Another tenant pointed it out to me as I was in the process of having her removed from the unit.

 

[GrandTheftAutumn]

Is this like Frank Abagnale from Catch Me If You Can? Where he actually passed a bar exam?

 

[mentos]

20 Years Later, Missing Girl Returns with a New Family

She went missing in 1997 and was off the grid for the next two decades. And, then, one day, she showed up with a new name, a new family and a new language.

www.livingmgz.com

I saw one of these click bait articles and it reminded me of this thread. A 14 year old girl ran away and got herself a new identity with fake drivers license. Made herself 9 years older and got Medicaid benefits too. So easy back then.

 

[rph3664]

Sadly, yes. I ran a background check on an applicant last year. Came back clean. I was wondering why she and her grandfather were so surprised and indicated that she had turned her life around. Anyway, I was sold on her redemptive arc and didn't investigate any further. By far, she was the worst tenant I ever had by several orders of magnitude. I say this even though she was early with her rent. Just an absolute nightmare. Had I done a quick Google search, I would have seen what was missing from her background search. Another tenant pointed it out to me as I was in the process of having her removed from the unit.

Are you at liberty to tell me what she did (or didn't do?)?

I'm hearing that employers are strongly recommended NOT to check applicants' social media before hiring people. Lawsuits have been filed - and won - because a person charged that they were discriminated against because of political and/or religious views.

 

[Sine Cura]

Are you at liberty to tell me what she did (or didn't do?)?

I'm hearing that employers are strongly recommended NOT to check applicants' social media before hiring people. Lawsuits have been filed - and won - because a person charged that they were discriminated against because of political and/or religious views.

How would they even know you checked.

Here's an idea. Don't have asinine social media accounts where you are found baring your bazongas or go full QAnon

 

[mentos]

Are you at liberty to tell me what she did (or didn't do?)?

I'm hearing that employers are strongly recommended NOT to check applicants' social media before hiring people. Lawsuits have been filed - and won - because a person charged that they were discriminated against because of political and/or religious views.

I know someone in a hiring position who didn't hire a girl because her profile pic was herself drunk on the toilet giving the finger.

I don't understand why people would set anything on social media to public view.

 

[BidingMyTime]

How would they even know you checked.

Back in the early days of SM, it was fairly common for HR to require that the applicant sign on to the SM in their presence, and/or actually give them their log-on and password, so they could go through the profile and see all the pictures and posts that might be hidden or sent privately. Ridiculous idea that I'm sure HR's never actually ran by lawyers, so I'm not surprised that lawsuits were filed for discrimination based on political/religious takes.

 

[rph3664]

Forcing employees to reveal their SM passwords would be an invasion of privacy, or it should be, anyway.

However, in the early days of Facebook, when I was still practicing, a technician almost got fired because she was posting things on there like "I hate my boss!" It hadn't occurred to her that just because said boss wasn't on Facebook that she couldn't potentially see that, and yes, another colleague signed on on a non-work computer, IIRC in the attached nursing school's library, and showed it to her.

I've seen FB profiles that, if I checked them for a prospective employee, would be hesitant about hiring them, not because they were, say, a militant atheist or a member of QAnon, but that the whole attitude could indicate that the person would be a troublemaker in the department.

 

[BidingMyTime]

I've seen FB profiles that, if I checked them for a prospective employee, would be hesitant about hiring them, not because they were, say, a militant atheist or a member of QAnon, but that the whole attitude could indicate that the person would be a troublemaker in the department.

This. It is one thing if someone is just reposting stupid memes, it is another thing were there are post after post of them complaining about their neighbors, wishing their ex-spouse's new partner was dead, talking about how ridiculous their child's teacher is and how the asinine principal won't give their child a new teacher....

 

[rph3664]

I unfriended a relative-by-marriage, who was (and still is) a big-A atheist, and he posted a meme that said, "If there's ever a Christian holocaust, I'll be the first to sign up to participate." This was after posting things like "I hope the Rapture happens, because then all the Christians will be gone" and he got in trouble at work, Barnes & Noble, for ridiculing people who bought Bibles and other religious books. He wasn't fired, but was sent to the stockroom.