Rite Aid Drug Chain Indicted in Bribery Case

A Cleveland grand jury Tuesday indicted Rite Aid Corp., the nation’s largest drugstore chain, and its president, Martin Grass, in connection with an alleged attempt to bribe a member of the state’s pharmacy board.

A Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court clerk said a grand jury indicted the company and Grass on one count of bribery and one count of possession of criminal tools.

Grass was arrested at a Cleveland airport motel on April 27 and charged with offering Melvin Wilczynski, a member of the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, a check for $33,000 to resign so that a replacement of Rite Aid’s choosing could be appointed.

Prosecutors have said Rite Aid wanted to gain control of the board so that it could oust Executive Director Franklin Wickham, a zealous enforcer of the board’s regulations.

Rite Aid has claimed that the company owed the money to Wilczynski, who was a consultant to Lane Drug Co., which Rite Aid later acquired.

In May, Rite Aid filed suit against Wilczynski, accusing him of defaming the company and seeking $150,000 in damages. It said Wilczynski in March asked Rite Aid to buy out the $33,000 left on his contract with Lane Drug.

Blamed Pharmacy Board

Martin Grass, son of Rite Aid Chairman Alex Grass, had been president of the company only three weeks when he was arrested. He was appointed to the job on April 5.

Officials at Rite Aid, headquartered in Shiremanstown, Pa., were unavailable for comment.

But at Rite Aid’s annual meeting in July, Alex Grass blamed his son’s arrest on the company’s continuing problems with the Ohio pharmacy board. The company in January paid a $50,000 fine to settle a May, 1988, case in which the board cited 65 Rite Aid pharmacists for giving unauthorized staffers keys to the pharmacy sections of their stores.

Stock in the company, which operates 2,278 stores in 22 states, closed 87.5 cents lower at $38.75 a share in active trading on the New York Stock Exchange.