Pharmacist Charged with Felony After Police Find Large Amount of Pills Inside Vehicle

A concerned Minnesota Department of Transportation employee noticed something was off when she saw a man slumped over in his truck on the side of the road.

She pulled over, honked the horn a couple times, and when she did not get a response from the man, she called the police.

That is when Wabasha County Police, who would later arrest the man for felony drug charges, discovered Timothy Robert Wodele, a pharmacist, awake but operating at a slow pace around 2:00 am on November 18, 2014. Wodele told police he had been trying to get home from a movie but found himself veering onto the rumble strips several times, so he pulled over to rest, the Post Bulletin reported.

Police observed Wodele to have bloodshot and watery eyes and slurred speech. The police also said he had trouble rebuttoning his coat after searching for his ID to give to the deputy. Wodele said he had not been drinking but had taken an anti-anxiety pill about 6 hours earlier, according to the Post Bulletin.

The pharmacist failed sobriety tests but registered 0.00 on a preliminary breath test. Results have not been determined from a blood test yet.

Wodele asked police to retrieve his cell phone and briefcase from his truck before it was towed, and inside, a deputy discovered a briefcase containing several wholesale and prescription pill bottles, with 236 pills inside, including oxycodone, amphetamines, and diazepam, the Post Bulletin reported. Some of the pills were in bottles prescribed to Wodele, but the pills did not match the prescription labels. Other pills were found in wholesale pill bottles, bags, and rolling loose in his briefcase, the newspaper reported.

After the discovery, Wodele was arrested and taken to jail.

The 45-year-old faces 10 felony counts of fifth-degree controlled substance crime and 1 count of fourth-degree driving while impaired, according to the Post Bulletin. He could see a maximum of 5 years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both.