Timothy T. Duax U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa
Megan Elsbury, a 43-year-old pharmacist from Mason City, Iowa, has been sentenced to one month in federal prison. This follows her guilty plea on February 7, 2025, to a charge of acquiring a controlled substance through misrepresentation, fraud, deception, and subterfuge.
Elsbury admitted in a plea agreement that she worked at three different pharmacies in Mason City between 2008 and 2023. During this period, she diverted controlled substances such as codeine, phentermine, alprazolam, clonazepam, lorazepam, pregabalin, and tramadol for personal use. She did so by creating unauthorized prescriptions and falsifying prescription records and inventory under the names of existing patients. These activities primarily took place when the pharmacy was closed.
United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand sentenced Elsbury in Sioux City to one month of imprisonment followed by a one-year term of supervised release. There is no parole available in the federal system.
Elsbury has been released on bond and is scheduled to surrender to the United States Marshals on July 14, 2025.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Diversion Control Division and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ron Timmons.
