Retail drugstore chain Rite Aid, which operates a store in Massena, will pay the United States a $4.75 million penalty to resolve allegations of illegal sale of pseudophedrine, according to the US Department of Justice.

Rite Aid employees, in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, recorded false or incomplete information about customers who purchased tens of thousands of products containing pseudoephedrine, according to US Attorney for the Northern District of New York Grant Jaquith.

Pseudoephedrine, an ingredient found in many cough and cold medicines, is used by some to illegally manufacture the drug methamphetamine, federal prosecutors said.

In order to prevent the illicit use of pseudoephedrine, the Controlled Substances Act requires Rite Aid and other retail sellers to create and maintain a logbook that contains, among other things, the name and address of each customer who makes a purchase of a pseudoephedrine product, prosecutors said.

In the settlement agreement, Rite Aid admitted that, between August 2009 and January 2014, certain Rite Aid employees entered into Rite Aid’s logbook inaccurate or incomplete name and address information for customers. The United States alleged that this misconduct occurred in connection with tens of thousands of sales during that time period, prosecutors said.

Shortly after the United States brought these violations to Rite Aid’s attention, the company voluntarily devised and implemented a number of enhancements to its process for sales of pseudoephedrine products to better ensure Rite Aid’s compliance with federal law, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say the investigation and settlement were the result of a coordinated effort among the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and DEA. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam J. Katz of the Northern District of New York and Elliot M. Schachner of the Eastern District of New York.

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