Two Iowa-licensed pharmacists are facing sanctions for alcohol-related issues.
In the first case, pharmacist Benajmin Grote, 50, who now lives in Fremont, Nebraska, recently agreed to surrender his Iowa pharmacist’s license.
Records from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services indicate that Grote has a long history of licensing issues, beginning in 2007 when he was charged with unprofessional conduct. He was accused of sending a sexually suggestive email to a person the board described as “a young female co-worker.”
Grote was also accused of making inappropriate sexual inquiries of a young, female job applicant, asking about her drinking habits and whether she and her partner used condoms. He allegedly presented the applicant with a box of condoms at the conclusion of the job interview. As a result of those allegations, Nebraska officials placed Grote’s license on probation for five years.
In 2019, the Nebraska board suspended Grote’s license for 12 months after he was convicted of third-offense drunken driving in Woodbury County, Iowa. In 2021, the state of Nebraska reinstated Grote’s license subject to one year of probation that required him to abstain from alcohol.
In 2022, Grote wrote to the Woodbury County judge in his 2019 drunken-driving case to report that since his conviction he had been experiencing problems finding work as a pharmacist. As a consequence of that, he said, he had fallen behind in child support and owed $70,000.
“Pharmacy is the only work I can do to earn that kind of money,” he told the judge. “As a felon, I cannot bill Medicare, which makes me unemployable in pharmacy.”
Grote asked that his felony conviction be “set aside” so that “as a practicing pharmacist I can be of service to the community.” The judge denied the request.
That same year, Nebraska officials extended Grote’s probation, censured him and fined him $500 after he was allegedly arrested again for third-offense drunken driving.
In July 2025, Nebraska officials suspended Grote’s pharmacy license for 30 days and fined him $2,000, alleging he had tested positive for the use of alcohol.
In August 2025, Grote allegedly participated in a substance abuse assessment in which he admitted consuming eight “shooters” — a term typically used to describe 50-milliliter bottles of alcohol — per day since his license was suspended.
That same month, Grote was allegedly pulled over driving north in the southbound lanes of a highway in Platte County, Nebraska. Police alleged he had a blood-alcohol level that was three times the legal limit, and they charged him with felony fifth-offense drunken driving, an open-container violation and other offenses.
Grote then signed an agreement with the Iowa Board of Pharmacy to refrain from practicing in Iowa, and a few weeks later, the Nebraska board revoked his license to practice in that state.
Recently, the Iowa board charged Grote with habitual intoxication or addiction to the use of drugs or alcohol, and having his license in another state revoked or suspended. To resolve the matter, the board agreed last week to accept Grote’s voluntary surrender of his Iowa license.
Evansdale pharmacy technician case
In a separate, unrelated disciplinary case, the board charged pharmacy technician Nicole Clausman of Evansdale with fraud in procuring a license and practicing pharmacy while under the influence of alcohol or illicit substances.
According to the board, Clausman’s employer, whose identity the board has not disclosed, reported to the board that Clausman was under the influence of alcohol while at work, as verified by two separate screening tests that produced positive results for alcohol.
The board alleges Clausman was not permitted to return to work that day and was later fired. During the board’s investigation of the matter, the board discovered that when Clausman submitted her technician registration renewal application five years ago, in October 2020, she failed to disclose that she had previously pleaded guilty to a simple misdemeanor charge in January 2020.
The board has not publicly disclosed the precise nature of the conviction, or said when Clausman was alleged to have been under the influence of alcohol at work.
In resolving the matter, the board imposed a $100 civil penalty against Clausman and issued her a warning.
