Clara Ann Mason, D.V.M. (mobile veterinary practice, Winfield, WV)
Outcome
A federal court ordered veterinarian Clara Ann Mason to pay $956,709 — the maximum civil penalty allowed by federal law — after investigators found she ordered 9,796 unaccounted doses of opioids including oxycodone and hydrocodone over five years, kept drugs unsecured, produced no dispensing records, and submitted fabricated records claiming the drugs were administered to animals before euthanasia.
Details
Clara Ann Mason, D.V.M. — Maximum Penalty for Opioid Diversion and Fabricated Records (2025)
Outcome: A federal court ordered veterinarian Clara Ann Mason to pay $956,709 — the maximum civil penalty allowed by federal law — after investigators found she ordered 9,796 unaccounted doses of opioids including oxycodone and hydrocodone over five years, kept drugs unsecured, produced no dispensing records, and submitted fabricated records claiming the drugs were administered to animals before euthanasia.
Clara Ann Mason, D.V.M., age 64, operated a mobile veterinary practice based in Winfield, Putnam County, West Virginia. The DEA investigation of her practice covered the period from March 8, 2018, through July 10, 2023.
Mason ordered substantial quantities of opioids from a veterinary pharmaceutical wholesale supplier during this five-year period: 14,200 dosage units of hydrocodone/acetaminophen at 10/325 mg, 800 dosage units of oxycodone HCL at 10 mg, and 600 dosage units of oxycodone HCL at 5 mg. Her ordering patterns were extraordinary: for calendar years 2021, 2022, and 2023, Mason ordered more hydrocodone/acetaminophen from the supplier than any other individual customer in their entire client base. Between January 2021 and January 2023, her oxycodone HCL orders accounted for 74 percent of all oxycodone HCL dosage units sold by the supplier.
On October 11, 2023, investigators executed an administrative inspection warrant at Mason's registered DEA address in Winfield. They found controlled substances stored unsecured in numerous locations throughout the property. When asked to produce required records — DEA Forms documenting purchases, dispensing logs, and the mandatory inventory records — Mason was unable to produce any.
Mason subsequently provided purported records alleging she had dispensed large quantities of opioids to dogs and cats prior to euthanasia. Investigators concluded these documents were largely fabricated. When investigators interviewed pet owners identified in the fabricated records, none reported witnessing Mason administer oral medications to their pets before euthanasia.
U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers entered a default judgment ordering Mason to pay $956,709 — the maximum civil penalty permitted under federal law for the violations proven.
Primary Source: Putnam County Veterinarian Ordered to Pay $956,709 in Civil Penalties — DOJ Southern District of West Virginia
How Crucible Prevents This
Crucible's controlled substance dispensing controls enforce real-time inventory reconciliation, flagging any gap between ordered quantities and documented dispensing events. Mason's pattern — ordering 74% of a supplier's entire oxycodone volume over two years with no dispensing records — would have triggered immediate escalation alerts under Crucible's anomaly detection thresholds. Secure storage verification requirements and mandatory DEA Form 222 reconciliation would have prevented the unsecured storage finding. Crucible's record-tamper detection would have flagged the fabricated euthanasia dispensing records by cross-referencing them against patient appointment logs and owner interviews.
Don't let this happen to your organization. See how Crucible works.
See How Crucible Works