SC pharmacist pleads guilty to possession of methadone

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP — A former St. Charles pharmacist has pleaded guilty in Kane County Court to possession of methadone.

Prosecutors Friday agreed to drop several other felony charges that Mark Burger, 43, of Elburn, had been facing, according to court records. Methadone is a painkiller often used in the treatment of drug addiction.

In 2008, Burger was charged with illegally obtaining drugs with the intention to sell them while running Burger Drugs, his family’s downtown St. Charles store. Burger’s pharmacist license had been suspended a month earlier after drugs were found in his home.

He was charged with possession and distribution of controlled substances containing methadone and hydrocodone, the Kane County state’s attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors said Burger possessed “a large amount” — more than what would be reasonable for personal use — of the drugs at various times between January 2006 and April 2008. Additionally, he took a quantity of the drugs from Burger Drugs — which operated on Main Street in St. Charles for decades — and had them at his home near Blackberry Creek Elementary School.

Burger, described in state records as the store’s “pharmacist in charge,” drew attention because of the quantities being ordered by the neighborhood pharmacy.

Burger was facing potentially severe penalties because of the types of drugs and amounts involved. For instance, the methadone possession with intent to deliver qualified as a Class X felony because it involved more than 200 grams. Another Class X charge was tied to having the drug within 1,000 feet of the school, prosecutors added.

In 2008, the state indefinitely suspended Burger’s pharmacist license — which he held since 1993 — after he opted against a hearing on allegations he dispensed drugs without prescriptions authorized by doctors.

Burger was brought before the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation after Drug Enforcement Administration agents searched his home and seized “certain controlled substances,” prosecutors said. Controlled substances must be kept at an address registered with the DEA and distributed by a licensed pharmacist in properly marked containers, prosecutors noted as a basis for some of the charges.

Burger could be sentenced at his next court date, scheduled for Jan. 28, 2011.