DA: Tosa Pharmacist Sold Narcotics While on Bail in Brookfield Drug Fraud Case

A Wauwatosa pharmacist who was out on bail while charged with a dozen felony counts, 11 for illegally obtaining narcotics and one for theft, was back in jail last week after he was found dispensing drugs again at another pharmacy.

James D. Kobs, 50, of Wauwatosa was charged Friday in Waukesha County Circuit Court with felony bail jumping, punishable by up to six years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint and court records, Kobs was reported to police by a part-time pharmacy technician at Omni Pharmacy, a Milwaukee clinic, who said that Kobs had become upset with him over the billing of a customer and had assaulted him.

The technician told police the customer had been paying cash for prescriptions even though she qualified for health coverage and that Kobs told him she shouldn't be served. The technician had continued to do so, and on Dec. 26, Kobs grew agitated about it, threw a staple at him, and shouted, "My license is on the line!"

Was it ever.

Kobs, the technician said, choked him and pushed him out the door, leading him to call police the next day.

After a review of Kobs' record, Milwaukee police referred the matter to the district attorney, who in turn called Brookfield police.

Kobs, it turned out, had been charged Nov. 30 after a lengthy investigation with 11 counts of illegally obtaining narcotics, each a felony punishable by six years in prison, and one count of felony theft, punishable by three years and six months in prison.

Court records show Kobs had been investigated for drug thefts dating back to 2009 while working as a pharmacist in Brookfield.

He was, however, free on a signature bond, and a subsequent investigation by Brookfield police showed he had taken a job as pharmacist at the Omni clinic, at 1134 West North Ave. in Milwaukee, in October.

The pharmacy technician said he had been working with Kobs during that time and had seen him handling and selling Schedule II narcotics throughout – a violation of the terms of Kobs' bail.

Since at least 2009, Kobs had been falsifying records, voiding sales and even pilfering pills from patients' prescription bottles, according to the November criminal complaint on those charges as reported by Brookfield NOW.

That complaint accuses Kobs of stealing amphetamine salts, Oxycodone, morphine and dextroamphetamine, the NOW story said, from the Pick 'n Save at 15170 W. Greenfield Ave., as well as Pick 'n Save stores in West Allis and Greenfield.

The thefts amounted to more than 1,000 pills worth about $4,700, the report said, and Kobs admitted to police that he had developed drug addictions.