CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A federal grant jury indictment was unsealed Thursday charging a Fluvanna County pharmacist with diverting liquid hydromorphone for his own use and replacing it with water, according to a Western District of Virginia U.S. Attorney’s release.

According to the indictment, Joshua Joseph Walden, 52, who previously worked at Jefferson Pharmacy outside of Lake Monticello in Palmyra is charged with one count of tampering with consumer products and attempt to tamper with a consumer product, two counts of theft of pre-retail medical products, and one count of acquiring a controlled substance by fraud.

Walden worked as a pharmacist from in or before July 2023 until he resigned in February 2025, according to court records.

Throughout the course of his employment, Walden stole liquid opioids and amphetamines and further tampered with prescription medications with reckless disregard for the risk that another person would be placed in danger of death or bodily injury, according to the government.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Criminal Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Virginia State Police are investigating the case.

According to the DEA, “Hydromorphone belongs to a class of drugs called “opioids,” which includes morphine. It has an analgesic potency approximately two to eight times greater than that of morphine and has a rapid onset of action.”

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