A federal district court has issued a default order directing a West Virginia veterinarian to pay civil penalties totaling more than $950,000 for failing to account for nearly 9,800 dosage units of controlled substances (United States v. Mason, No. 3:25-cv-00175 (S.D. W. Va.)).

On July 31, Dr. Clara Ann Mason, a Winfield, West Virginia, veterinarian, was ordered by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia to pay a $956,709 default judgment.

A verified complaint filed in the district court by the Department of Justice (DOJ) March 19 alleged that Mason failed to maintain controlled substance purchase, storage and dispensing records and a biennial inventory of controlled substances.

According to the DEA, which announced the default judgment on Aug. 7, Mason was unable to account for 9,796 dosage units of oxycodone HCL, hydrocodone/acetaminophen and other controlled substances.

The court ordered Mason to pay the maximum civil penalties for the alleged violations after finding that she had ordered thousands of doses of opioids and other drugs, failed to keep the drugs secure, and “apparently fabricated records to cover her failures,” the agency said.

ARCOS Search

According to the verified complaint, in August 2023 the DEA conducted an Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS) database review of Mason’s purchases of opioids from MWI Veterinary Supply Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp.

The review allegedly revealed that for the years 2021 through 2023 Mason “ordered substantially more hydrocodone/acetaminophen from MWI than any other individual customer.” In fact, the DEA allegedly found, between January 2021 and September 2023 Mason’s orders of oxycodone HCL “accounted for 74 percent of all oxycodone HCL dosage units sold by MWI.”

Administrative Inspection Warrant

In October 2023, the DEA obtained an administrative inspection warrant to inspect Mason’s controlled substance records at the Winfield, West Virginia, address with which she was registered with the agency.

During the execution of the warrant, the DOJ alleged, “controlled substances were found unsecured in numerous locations throughout the property including loose tramadol pills scattered on the floor, a pill bottle labeled ‘hydrocodone’ containing various unidentified pills, and oxycodone pills found unsecured in a bedroom.”

According to the verified complaint, Mason was unable to produce any scheduled medication dispensing records, any DEA Form 222 records of her purchases of controlled substances, an initial inventory of controlled substances, or a biennial inventory of controlled substances.

Mason allegedly told the investigators executing the warrant that she could not produce her dispensing records because two assistants had reorganized her files in the spring of 2023. However, the government said, she “did not know the last names of her assistants for verification.”

DEA investigators took possession of and catalogued the controlled substances found at Mason’s registered address. “Because of [the veterinarian’s] failure to account for her inventory and dispensing of controlled substances,” the government reported, “DEA was unable to reconcile the controlled substances on hand against ordering and dispensing records, leaving at least 6,593 dosage units of hydrocodone and oxycodone unaccounted for along with other controlled substances.”

As the warrant was executed, the investigators asked Mason about her dispensing of hydrocodone and oxycodone. She told them that she had dispensed the opioids to dogs and cats as a sedative before the animals were euthanized. “However,” the DOJ said in the verified complaint, “subsequent interviews of pet owners identified in the logs revealed that the pets likely never received the drugs.”

During the execution of the warrant, Mason voluntarily surrendered her DEA registration number.

Mason later provided what she said were dispensing records for 2022 and 2023, the government reported in the verified complaint, but the spreadsheets “were severely deficient and appeared to be largely fabricated.”

For example, the DOJ said, “the 2023 spreadsheet contained entries for dates that had not yet occurred, and inventory totals identical to the same dates reflected in the 2022 spreadsheet.” Moreover, the electronic spreadsheets were allegedly inconsistent with paper logs eventually produced by Mason.

According to a table provided in the verified complaint, Mason had failed to credibly account for the following controlled substances, which were received during the two years before the warrant was executed and were not available for seizure by the DEA:

• 19 ml of ketamine 100 mg/ml solution;
• 5,200 tablets of hydrocodone/APAP 10 mg/325 mg;
• 600 tablets of oxycodone 5 mg
• 793 tablets of oxycodone 10 mg;
• 9,486 tablets of tramadol 50 mg; and
• 40 ml of Vetorphic (butorphanol tartrate) 10 mg/ml solution.

Default Judgment

The district court granted the government’s motion for a default judgment, determining that Mason had been duly served but had failed to timely answer or otherwise plead in response to the verified complaint.

In its July 31 order granting the motion, the court said that evidence presented by the government concerning Mason’s financial condition — including evidence of her ownership of a West Virginia house with a tax appraisal amount of $209,100, a 50% interest in a Maryland property purchased by her and her husband in 2017 for $790,000, and two trucks valued at more than $25,000 each — “suggests she may be able to pay a significant fine.”

On this basis, the court “exercise[d] its informed discretion to assess the maximum penalties.” The civil penalties included:

• $825,396 for the 44 violations for failure to keep or produce DEA 222 order forms;
• $112,554 for the six violations for failure to make, keep or furnish records of the dispensing of controlled substances; and
• $18,759 for one violation for failure to take or produce a biennial inventory.