Jared Wheat, CEO of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, and co-defendant Sergio Oliveira, a sales associate, were sentenced to 50 months and 20 months, respectively, after pleading guilty to an internet pharmacy conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and to introduce and deliver new and adulterated prescription drugs into interstate commerce under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Wheat […]
News (Page 4)
Internet pharmacy owners Steven Abiodun Sodipo and Onigbo Nwaehiri were both sentenced to five years imprisonment by a Maryland District Court Judge earlier last month for their role in selling 9,936,075 hydrocodone (Vicodin) prescription pills online. Both were pharmacists and owners of NewCare Pharmacy in Baltimore, Maryland. Additionally, both were ordered to pay $11,870,119.39. To satisfy […]
Ohio pharmacist Gary A. Evankovich was indicted for his alleged involvement with an internet pharmacy by a Mahoning County grand jury on 24 counts of “reckless retail sale of drug[s].” The drug sales allegedly originated from the internet, and the prescriptions were signed by a New York doctor. Prosecuting Attorney Robert Bush stated that Evankovich “illegally filled prescriptions […]
The St. Petersberg Times reports that Florida doctor Juan Ibanez was sentenced to four years yesterday for his association with an internet pharmacy organization (foxfamilymeds.com, medsforpain.com, prescriptiondrugplanet.com, sunshinefamilymeds.com and online-scripts.com) which distributed “more than 50 million hydrocodone pills” nationwide. Between 2003-2007, the online pharmacy grossed more than $85 million from its sales of Vicodin. Doctors did not perform face […]
A federal district court unsealed a 198 count indictment of several individuals associated with an Alabama compounding pharmacy (Applied Pharmacy Services, Inc.) and extensive steroid distribution network alleged to have dispensed anabolic steroids between 2003-2006 “outside the usual course of professional practice.” Those indicted include A. Samuel Kelley II, Jason R. Kelley, Jodi C. Silvio, J. […]
Much of this blog has been devoted to criminal defense attorney analysis of the ambiguities of controlled substance internet pharmacy law; however, the law governing online pharmacies selling non-controlled substances is just as vague and unclear. This post will serve as an initial background discussion of non-controlled substance internet pharmacy law, much like my equivalent, initial […]
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) issued a warning on Monday to consumers of weight loss pills purchased online. Specifically, it warned that over 25 different diet pills marketed as “herbal” products actually contain undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients, in violation of the FDA guidelines. The “tainted” weight loss products containing the alleged active pharmaceutical ingredients include: “2 […]
I previously wondered whether the government would indict individuals involved in internet pharmacy operations after the passage of the Ryan Haight Act but before its 2009 effective date. I now have my answer. David A. Vogel, Jonathan Vogel and Carrie Demers were indicted in the U.S. District Court for East Texas for their alleged involvement in […]
Criminal defense attorneys in various federal internet pharmacy trials have recently, though unsuccessfully, sought to dismiss federal indictments (via Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12b) utilizing somewhat similar arguments to the ones posited here, including the argument that the passage of the Ryan Haight Act indicates that pre-Ryan Haight Act law did not outlaw online consultations with extensive […]
The fact that the DEA can still say with a straight face that internet pharmacy online consultation services under federal law are illegal prior to the effective date of the Ryan Haight Act simply amazes me. Of course, when individuals are pleading guilty right and left, what they believe really doesn’t matter. Both prior to and […]
