URI Will 'Review Employment' Of Convicted Pharmacy Professor

KINGSTON, RI — One day after an assistant professor of pharmacy was convicted of approving false prescriptions in federal court, the University of Rhode Island said in a statement that the school will "review" Michelle Caetano Thomas' employment. Caetano Thomas' charges stemmed from her time with the New England Compounding Center prior to her employment at URI.

When asked if Caetano Thomas had been terminated, the university released the following statement:"given the guilty verdict..and the seriousness of the charges, the University will immediately review the employment status of Michelle Caetano."

On Thursday, Caetano Thomas was convicted of approving shipments of prescriptions for obviously fake patients with names such as "LL Bean" and "Coco Puff," The Providence Journalreported. She left her job at the now-defunct Framingham pharmacy in 2012 to take her current job at URI.

This is the second-high profile court case for a URI employee in the past few months. In March, women's tennis coach Gordon Ernst was indicted in the massive "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal. Ernst submitted his letter of resignation a little over a week later.

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